New Life
by S. Phantom
Summary: The Autobots are given a chance to live as humans through an alien technology. Begins after the 2007 movie. Will contain slash between some of the characters. Original Transformers belong to Hasbro and Takara.
1. New Life

Author's note: Okay, I've been sucked into Transformers like you wouldn't believe. I've written more Transformers fanfiction in the past 4 months than I have on other fanfiction, combined, in the past two years. Sorry... I hope people out there like what they read. If I get some reviews, I will continue posting the story.

Warning: There will be slash/yaoi pairings. Don't like, don't read!

**oOo**

Bumblebee didn't know what to expect when he woke up. He was almost afraid to open his eyes and look on his former body as a near lifeless shell. He had reassurances from Ratchet that he would be able to access his Camaro form at any given time through the link he had with it, but it was still a scary thought to be something much smaller, much more vulnerable.

His new body could easily be destroyed by one accidental blast from his own cannons. Ironhide's cannons wouldn't even leave a trace of him behind. He was told that his consciousness would immediately return to the Camaro in the event of his body being destroyed, but there was always a small possibility that he couldn't. His Spark could easily be extinguished at a moment of carelessness. He began to shiver, either from the thought or from the cold invading his form

_ Calm down, Bumblebee. Everything is going according to plan. You're doing fine. _

Ratchet? What about Optimus? Is he okay? Is everything okay with Optimus?

_ I'm right here, Bee. _ A gentle touch caressed his cheek, moving away blond and black hair from sensitive skin. _Stay calm. Your vitals are jumping everywhere. It's all right. Ratchet says that you can wake up now._ _Wake up, Bumblebee. _

"Wake up, Bumblebee."

It was the voice that made the young Autobot opened his eyes. The voice that sounded so young and gentle but unmistakably Optimus's. Sky blue eyes blinked open, watering a bit at the bright light that shown down on him. A shadow was cast over him and his eyes focused on the face above him. Red bangs hung slightly in front of crystal blue eye while dark blue hair framed the young face, the red tips brushing delicate ears.

"Optimus?" Bumblebee was startled at the voice that came from him, sounding much younger than he expected.

The man chuckled, brushing back another long lock of blond hair away from Bumblebee's face. "Welcome back, my warrior."

**oOo**

Bumblebee huddled under the thick blanket draped around his shoulders, the thin long sleeve t-shirt and jeans doing nothing to protect him from the cold, it seemed like. Everything felt so new and different. His movements were quick, but it felt so slow. He could easily handle tiny things but could no longer feel his strength. It was disconcerting nonetheless.

From his perch upon the hood of his Camaro, Bumblebee watched as Optimus and Ratchet talked over another human form on the table. The form had pale skin and shoulder length white hair, looking like an albino human. It was supposed to be the new form for their fallen comrade Jazz.

_ oOo_

"_What happened to you, Ratchet?"_

_A small form looked up at Optimus, long, red bangs brushing his shoulders and mixing with equally long white hair as the man turned to look up at his leader. "It's a technology that the American government had from a different alien race. I was working with them for a while."_

_The human walked around to the back doors of the Hummer, opening them and pulling out a gurney and presented his three large comrades with a blank, expressionless body. "The body that I'm walking around in now originally looked like this form here. There is a wireless connection from my vehicle form to here." He pulled away his hair and Bumblebee could see the circuitry that arched around his neck and worked its way up to his right ear. "I can easily transfer myself to and from this form because of this, only if I'm in a hundred mile radius of the vehicle."_

"_What if the Decepticons find you?" Bumblebee asked. "You're vulnerable like that."_

"_I just merely transfer back to my vehicle form. I might lose this body, but that is an acceptable loss. This body is also stronger than a human, has the same computing power as my vehicle form, but more agile if anything. I can blend in easily as long as I cover up the access points, but even nowadays, people would probably accept it as tattoos. In all essentials, I'm human."_

_Ironhide eyed the medic, appearing wary of the motionless body at his side. "What are the risks of actually doing this?"_

"_You can stay online during the process, but it's very disconcerting since I will have to be making connections with your larger form. You can go offline if you wish."_

"_I'll try it," Optimus said, sounding intrigued._

"_I volunteer too!" Bumblebee said, becoming vaguely uneasy when the others looked at him in surprise. "It'll be a good chance for me to study the culture if I can blend in easier."_

_Ratchet nodded, pulling his hair behind his shoulders and tying it back quickly. "There will be a few things I'll need to prepare, and we'll get started."_

_oOo _

"You okay kid?"

Bumblebee looked up at the tall, muscular form standing beside the car. The man was a small bit taller than Optimus's human form and had steel gray hair spiked up, his equally gray eyes watching the blond carefully. Ironhide had undergone the procedure shortly after Bumblebee and had adapted much quicker to his smaller form.

"Are we really going to be able to bring Jazz back?" Wetness streaked down his cheeks and Bumblebee wiped his eyes. This had been happening for the past hour since Ratchet and Optimus started discussing the possibility and the blond wasn't sure what was happening.

"The body is enough to house a Spark until it grows and able to transfer back to his vehicle form when it's fixed and it'll be Jazz in there."

The blond shivered violently and nothing seemed to help. "I can't stand this. I'll be back in a while."

Under him, the engine of the Camaro hummed to life and Bumblebee slid off the hood and got into the driver's seat of the vehicle. He wasn't sure what had happen, but his mind felt odd for a moment before he could feel the ground beneath his tires again. The wind felt wonderful against his hood and seemed to calm him.

He didn't know how long he drove, but when sky blue eyes opened again, he was sitting in front of Sam Witwicky's house, the domestic area feeling abnormal around him after being the base. Slowly, Bumblebee got out of the Camaro, the blanket wrapped tightly around him, and walked up to the door, knocking on the wood.

The door opened to reveal an older woman with a slightly confused look. "May I help you?"

"Mrs. Witwicky? Is Sam home?"

The woman studied him for a moment before they looked behind him, focusing on the yellow car. They widened as they looked at the young male. "Bumblebee?" she asked softly.

"Yes ma'am," he nodded, one hand reaching up to wipe the wetness from his cheeks again.

Judy pulled the young man in, a comforting arm around his shoulders. "I'm not sure what's going on but Sam and Mikaela are up in his room." She led him up the stairs and knocked on the door before opening it. Mikaela was sitting in front of the television, a game console controller in her hands, and Sam looked up. "You three play nice," she said with a soft smile before shutting the door behind Bumblebee.

"Sam?" Bumblebee asked uncertainly, pushing blond and black hair behind his right ear. The slightly exposed circuitry tingled at his touch but he ignored it in favor of focusing on his friend. "I think we can get Jazz back." He voice was choked and cracked at the end of the sentence and Sam's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Bumblebee?" Sam asked, getting up from the floor. Mikaela stopped her game and looked back at the blond, surprised.

The Autobot nodded. "Why are my cheeks wet?" he asked, wiping the skin of his face with a sleeve this time.

Sam froze, looking like he wasn't sure what to do but Mikaela stood up and reached him quickly, enveloping him in a hug. Something in Bumblebee broke and the blond broke down, crying in Mikaela's arms and letting everything go. When he was finished, he found himself curled up on Sam's bed, Mikaela sitting near his head and soothing back his hair while Sam rubbed his back gently.

Softly, Bumblebee told his friends of what was happening, starting off with how Ratchet disappeared for a while and came back human and how he, Optimus, and Ironhide went through the procedure to connect themselves to the human like bodies. He ended it with how their fallen comrade had a high possibility of coming back.

"Why are you crying?" Sam asked. "It's a good thing Jazz will be around, right?"

"It is. Isn't crying a sign of sadness?"

"And happiness," Mikaela said. "This could just be a release of emotions. Sometimes it'll build up to the point that you can hide it anymore."

"Oh," was all Bumblebee said, falling into a thoughtful silence. This went on for a bit until someone knocked at the door, startling Bumblebee into falling out of the bed.

He stood up slowly and opened the door, blinking when Judy presented a plate of cookies to him. "Here's a snack for you three. Call if you need anything, okay?"

Bumblebee gave her a smile. "Thank you." The door shut again and Bumblebee took a cookie before handing the plate off to Sam, studying the food in his hand. It was still warm and the chocolate chips were a bit gooey and Bumblebee was slightly amazed at the fact that his skin was sensitive enough to feel the slight temperature and texture of the cookie.

After a moment, he took a bite and sky blue eyes widened in wonder. "Why is this so good!?"

Mikaela and Sam laughed. "It's called sugar and carbs, Bee," the girl answered. She eyed Bumblebee for a moment before giving him a grin. "I think the three of us should go clothes shopping."

"Clothes shopping?" Sam asked, his voice cracking at the end slightly.

Bumblebee watched them, nibbling on his cookie a bit more. Clothes shopping didn't sound that bad.

**oOo**

By the time the blond got back to the Autobot base, he had a new plate of freshly baked cookies from Mrs. Witwicky and a back seat full of shopping bags. He got out of the car slowly, stretching slightly stiff muscles. He had yet to actually try driving while in his human form and when he left his body, the muscles tended to stiffen.

"Are you okay?"

Bumblebee was startled by the voice, looking up to see Optimus walking over to him with a worried expression. "Yea. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ironhide said that you left while crying earlier."

"I'm okay. Just needed to go visit Sam. He likes the new form, by the way. He and Mikaela want to visit to see the rest of you." He looked at the outfit the leader was wearing, the same type of shirt and jeans Bumblebee wore earlier. "And probably take you clothes shopping when she sees you."

"Is that what happened to you?" Optimus asked, amusement in his voice.

Bumblebee grinned. He still wore the same jeans, but his top was a simple short sleeve black t-shirt with a single yellow stripe down the left side. Yellow arm warmers covered his arms, with twin black stripes working down the yellow fabric. They bought a few more when they discovered more circuitry on Bumblebee's right arm, a small section about mid-bicep and an odd one here and there on his lower arm.

"I have a new wardrobe thanks to her."

"Should I fear this event?"

"Nah. I'll be there."

Something behind Optimus that caught Bumblebee's eye and he leaned to the side to get a better look. The older man moved out of the way and gently pushed the blond towards it. On the bed like table was young man, looking older than Bumblebee but not by much, with dark mocha skin and silver white dreadlocks, blues and reds weaving through the hair.

When Bumblebee got closer, then man's head turned a little and clouded iridescent eyes looked to him. "B'blebee?"

"Yea, it's me." The blond gently took a hold of the hand on the sheets, smiling even though he could feel the tears again.

"I'm still outta it." The man smiled at him. "Lookin' good kid. Was told you took out a 'Con."

"With some help." Bumblebee laughed as he wiped away the tears. "Its good to have you back, Jazz."

"Good to be back… I think I'll sleep for a while longer."

"All right."

The man smiled sleepily and closed his eyes, falling into a restful slumber. The sensors in Bumblebee's hands automatically registered everything about the man that it could catalogue, from the temperature of the skin to the man's heart rate. Everything was compared to the statistics of a normal human and with the information of biodroids that Ratchet gave them and the youngest Autobot was satisfied with the results.

"What are these?"

Bumblebee looked up and saw Ironhide pulling the plate of cookies out of the passenger seat of the Camaro. Bumblebee grinned. The blond knew a lot of humans because he actually had an interest in studying them, but Ironhide only knew the bare minimal facts.

"Eat some. I got them from Mrs. Witwicky."

The older man pulled a cookie out from under the protective plastic and bit into it. It wasn't as fresh as Bumblebee's first cookie, but they were still good. Gray eyes widened and Bumblebee wondered if that was the same expression he had at his first taste.

"What the hell are these!?" he asked, shock and awe in his voice.

"Sugar and carbs, 'Hide. Save some for the rest of us, will you?"

The man had a guilty look and he set the plate down after taking another cookie and quickly wandered off.

Optimus chuckled. "Are they really that good?"

"Yes. You need to try some!" Bumblebee went over to grab the plate and came back, holding one out to his leader. The older man took the cookie, biting off a piece. A small smear of chocolate decorated his lower lip and Bumblebee's eyes were transfixed to it for some odd reason.

Optimus wiped away the bit of chocolate with his thumb and licked it off and Bumblebee felt heat rushed to his cheeks. "It is pretty good," Optimus agreed, giving Bumblebee a grin before turning to the back of the room where Ratchet calling his name.

Bumblebee took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out what was going on with him. The keyword "hormones" came up on his mental search and Bumblebee frowned. What did hormones have to do with anything?

"Bumblebee!" Ironhide called. "We need your help over here!"

"Sure!" The blond set the plate down and walked over to his comrade, deciding to figure out the whole thing later. Nothing much could come from it, right?


	2. Shopping

Author's Note: I decided to go ahead and put up the second chapter in hopes that more people will get interested. Please do. Reviews always encourage authors along.

**oOo**

Bumblebee shivered, slowly opening his eyes and squinting at the bright light that shown down on him. After a moment, he stood up and stretched, walking around in a circle before leaving his room, looking around the base for his comrades. A few minutes later he spotted Jazz and Ratchet in the medic's work area, practically crawling over the mangled form of Jazz's vehicle.

The rest of the Autobots were worried how Jazz would react to the dead vehicle, but the first lieutenant only said two things. The first was, "Well damn…" The second was, "So, what do you need my help with?"

After that, Jazz and Ratchet worked on it nearly everyday, sometimes with the help of others and making great progress and sometimes just staring at the form all day, trying to figure out what would the next step be. Today was one of the "staring at the form all day."

"Can I pull you guys away for a while?"

Jazz looked up, his iridescent eyes lighting up. "Go ahead kid! It'll be a while before get the part we need next."

Behind him, Ratchet nodded, setting down his tool while the large bipedal form of his vehicle gently lowered Jazz's vehicle to the floor before taking a few steps back and powering down, an odd blue glow leaving Ratchet's gold eyes. The medic pulled out the hair tie and shook his head so that the red and white locks fell freely.

Bumblebee scowled slightly at the "kid" comment. Ironhide had started to use it as a nickname for Bumblebee since he looked the youngest of all of their biodriod forms and it hasn't made the Autobot very happy. At least Ratchet and Optimus didn't take up the name for him.

"I going to meet Sam and Mikaela and they want the rest of us along if we can. Do you know where I can find 'Hide and Optimus?"

"Front hanger."

Bumblebee turned and jogged down the long corridor towards the base entrance where the vehicles were parked for the most of the day. The large blue and red semi caught Bumblebee's eyes followed by Ironhide's Topkick and his own Camaro, the engine ticking slightly as it cooled from its recent drive.

"Optimus? 'Hide?"

"Here!" Optimus's red and blue hair appeared over the edge of the black truck's hood and Bumblebee walked over, looking at the wires that ran from the circuitry on Ironhide's right arm to a laptop computer. "What do you need, Bee?"

"I'm going to go meet Sam and Mikaela. They want everyone to come with me and get out into the public since I seem to be the only one leaving the base."

"How are we supposed to get to them?"

"With me and Ironhide?"

"Why just you two?" Ratchet asked, coming up behind Bumblebee.

"Because a semi and a rescue Hummer will be too noticeable in a mall parking lot."

Ironhide looked up quickly, a vague, worried expression on his face. "Mall?"

**oOo**

Bumblebee laughed as Mikaela practically tackled him, easily catching her and setting her back down before she could smother him. Behind him, the other four Autobots watched with wariness.

"You have a mission, Kael. And here it is." Bumblebee gestured behind him and watched Mikaela grin, quickly walking over to the group and grabbing the wrist of Optimus and Ironhide, surprising the taller men.

"Why us?" Ironhide asked, horrified.

"Because it looks like Jazz and Ratchet has a sense of fashion!"

Everyone looked back at the two mentioned and had to agree. Ratchet came back to the base with his own wardrobe, albeit a bit limited, and Jazz had managed to find different colored shirts though Bumblebee suspected that they were his at one point in time. Optimus and Ironhide had stuck to plain jeans and plain white long sleeve t-shirt.

The teen woman dragged the two men into a store and began to search through clothes, pulling out different colors and comparing it to the men who stood there with no expression.

"C'mon Bee! You're the only one I know of with a taste in clothes! What are their sizes anyway?"

Bumblebee rattled off the numbers and Mikaela looked up surprise. Bumblebee grinned and tapped the side of his head before starting to pull out clothing along with Mikaela. It didn't take too long for the piles to nearly swamp the two men and they ushered them to the back where the changing rooms were.

It took a few minutes for them to come out and show them the clothing at the demands of the teens. Every once in a while one of them would go up and adjust a collar here, a shirt there, but what caught Bumblebee's eyes was when Optimus walked out in black slacks and a button up shirt the same shade of blue as his eye, a bit brighter than the blue of his hair.

After a moment, Bumblebee walked up to him, untucking the shirt from the slacks and unbuttoning the first two buttons at the top, fixing the collar. "Perfect," he said softly.

"Thank you," Optimus said, his voice equally soft. Bumblebee looked up into his leader's crystal blue eyes and felt heat suffuse his face again.

The blond mumbled something as Optimus turned back to the dressing room and Bumblebee looked up in time to see Mikaela giving him a grin. He wasn't sure what to make of it so focused again on his two comrades.

The shopping trip wasn't as bad as Bumblebee's first time. Mikaela decided that the older Autobots didn't need many different variety of clothes, just enough to work in, go out in public in, and a few dress outfits. As they made their way up to the front cashier, they eyed the few bags resting at Ratchet and Jazz's feet.

The cashier rang through the many items and everyone's eyes widened at the total on the display.

"I don't think I can make that much over summer break!" Sam muttered.

Ratchet quickly walked up to the cashier and handed over a thin, silver-ish card

"Is that a platinum card?" Mikaela asked, disbelief lacing her voice.

"It's amazing what saving the world could do to help convince the government," Ratchet said with a grin. "They're practically paying us for protection."

Ironhide looked offended. "What have you been using that for?"

"The food you've been eating."

"…I thought that was from Mrs. Witwicky."

"Some of it is," Bumblebee answered. "The rest of it is something from Ratchet or I."

"You can cook?"

"Yea. It's not that hard to download recipes."

"Who made last night's casserole?"

"I did," Bumblebee answered with a confused tone.

"You have a weird since of taste kid!"

"You have no taste buds, 'Hide!"

Jazz had to pull the two fighting men apart, a pair of sunglasses perched on the tip of his nose. "No fighting here, wait until we get back to the base."

Bumblebee and Ironhide continued to glare at each other until Optimus grabbed the blond by his shoulder and gently pulled him to the store's exit as Ratchet reached for the collar of Ironhide's shirt to drag the taller man away.

**oOo**

Ironhide still hadn't lost his dark look during lunch but Bumblebee was happily devouring his Chinese food while deftly using chopsticks like a natural. Everyone else acted normally, except they seemed to develop a habit of flinching when steel gray eyes looked to them.

"What did Bee make last night, anyway?" Sam asked Ratchet, leaning close so that Ironhide wouldn't hear him.

"An odd pineapple chicken casserole from Hawaii, I think. It was pretty good, but I think the only thing sweet that Ironhide likes is your mom's cookies."

Sam smiled. "I'll be sure to tell her that."

He stopped when the Autobots stiffened suddenly, a distant look in their eyes. Abruptly, Ironhide fell forward slightly, barely caught by Jazz, and a growled, "You're not going alone!" came from Bumblebee before the same thing happened to him.

"What just happened?" Mikaela asked, looking at the other three.

Optimus grimaced slightly, adjusting his hold on Bumblebee. "There was a broadcast about a strange, out of state police car. No damage done yet but these two went to check it out."

"They haven't figured out how to move both their vehicle forms and their bodies at the same time, though." Ratchet sighed as Ironhide's human form over balanced and slumped against him. "Let's get everything cleaned up and outside. We can wait for them in the front."

**oOo**

Sam and Mikaela had left before Bumblebee and Ironhide came back, saying that their houses wasn't far from the area and the three remaining Autobots watched them walk off, holding each other's hand.

"I'll be glad once more of us are here," Jazz murmured, catching Optimus's attention. "I love the kids, but there's just no one around that can understand us.

"More will come soon," Ratchet said, giving his friend a smile. "It just might be a while. It's only been a few months since we arrived here."

They fell into a silence but looked up when the familiar sounds of Ironhide's and Bumblebee's engine came close, followed closely by another. It was a police car, but it wasn't Barricade. The decorations were mainly white and red and Jazz's eyes widened at the sight.

"Prowl?" The dark skinned man walked up to the police car and lightly touched the metal of the hood and his eyes lit up with delight. He began to speak rapidly in their native language and became more animated with each sentence.

Ratchet shook his head, looking slightly amused. "I'm not going to be able to pry Jazz away… Help me with the shopping bags and 'Hide, please?"

Optimus nodded and steady Bumblebee before helping the medic transfer part of the day's shopping to the truck, but stopped when faintly glowing eyes opened and Ironhide's human form stood up unsteadily. The man staggered to the driver's door, opened it, got in, and promptly went unconscious again.

"At least he could have fully transferred over to get back in…" Bumblebee muttered in a rough voice. The blond stood and stretched as he tended to do when he transferred back from his vehicle form and helped put the rest of the bags into the back seat of the Camaro. He looked over at the still talking Prowl and Jazz and frowned. "Optimus, sir? Who was in Prowl's squad?"

"Wheeljack, Arcee… and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, I think."

Bumblebee winced as they got into the yellow car. "Should we warn Ratchet?"

"From his expression, I think he already knows."

The blond sighed as he's eyes began to glow a faint blue. "Well, at least he can prepare for it." The voice was issued mainly from the speakers of the car but was echoed eerily by the figure in the driver seat. Bumblebee's hands reached up and held the steering wheel lightly and he gave Optimus a grin. "Prowl said that they others landed in different parts of the country.

"Let get back to the base and have more rooms ready."

"Yes sir."


	3. Catching Up

One review, but many alert requests. I'm being kind here, people... Please review, even if it's just pointing out a spelling error.

**oOo**

Ironhide rolled to a stop in the front yard of a peaceful house and quickly transferred back to his biodroid form that sat in the driver's seat. It's been too long since he visited the Lennoxs and Will was one of the few humans that he felt that he could speak to if it was needed. And after shopping with the others earlier, he wanted to be somewhere relatively quiet and away.

The weapon specialist stepped out of the truck, using the door to swing himself down onto the ground and pushing it closed. The one thing that irked him the most was that he was so short compared to his vehicle. Not as short as Ratchet or Bumblebee, but enough that he needed to grab something to pull himself up into the cab of the Topkick.

"Do you need help?"

Startled, Ironhide looked up to see Will standing a short distance from him, a vaguely confused expression on his face as the soldier's eyes went from Ironhide to his vehicle form and back. Then the Autobot realized what was going on.

"Lennox. I'm Ironhide."

The human raised an eyebrow. "You're a giant alien robot…"

The disbelief was easy to see and Ironhide didn't question it. Instead, he sat down on the ground, cross-legged, and felt himself slump over slightly as the Topkick suddenly converted to its bipedal version. Lennox stared up at and then back to the smaller form at its feet.

"These two forms are me, Lennox."

"… How?"

The large mech shifted so that it settled, balanced on two legs, and Ironhide transferred back to the smaller form. He stood carefully, running his fingers through his spiked gray hair. "It's a long story. Do you have time?"

"Sure. You want to come in."

"If it's not too much trouble..." Ironhide walked up slowly to the porch, pausing when his friend's wife appeared in the doorway.

"Ironhide?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"I didn't expect you to look so young."

Ironhide blushed, unsure of what to say but was saved when the woman held out a plate to him covered with dark brown squares.

"Would you like some brownies? They're fresh."

"Uh… Thank you, ma'am."

He picked one from the plate and took a bite from it. Sarah didn't see his expression because the Lennox's daughter had started to cry, but it was close to that of when Ironhide tried the cookies Bumblebee brought back one day. He'll never be able to live it down if the others discover his fondness for cookies and brownies…

**oOo**

"That was the dumbest, most foolish thing you did!"

Jazz winced. It wasn't the volume of the voice but the anger in it that made him flinch. What little warmth the day held earlier was sucked out by the desert around him and even though he could feel the cold more keenly than when he was a large mech, the warmth of the metal under him kept the cold at bay.

The small humanoid sat up, looking at the mech's face. Very few could tell, but Jazz easily read anger, worry, and relief in the subtle shifts around the area of Prowl's optical receivers. He lightly touched the nose of the Autobot below him.

"I didn't want to die but I had to do what was needed. Bumblebee was badly injured and Megatron just showed up and the AllSpark was among the humans. They needed time."

Prowl sighed and leaned forward slightly and Jazz could feel the mech relax when he leaned in the rest of the way, resting his forehead against Prowl's. He didn't know why, but they could feel each other more acutely when Jazz's skin was in contact with the Autobot's metal. Jazz could feel Prowl's weariness of the war.

"It'll be over. Now that Megatron is out of the way, it'll start quieting down."

"One can only hope," Jazz murmured, his own feelings calming when a large hand shielded him from what felt like the entire world. If only for a moment, everything was narrowed down to Jazz and his lover. Jazz eventually moved so that he was curled up on Prowl's chest, the hum of the Autobot's Spark making him feel even more protected than what he thought possible.

"Prowl?" he asked softly.

"Hmm?"

"How long do you think that the rest of your group will reach us?"

"A few days at the least but most likely a week. Arcee and Sunstreaker wanted to get away from Wheeljack and Sideswipe and vice versa. They also said they wanted to get to know this planet a bit better."

"Why did you come to this city?"

"It was where Optimus transmitted the message from, right? I needed to check in with the leader."

"And the fact that you're lover is the leader's first lieutenant had nothing to do with it."

"Might have had a little bit to do with it."

Jazz chuckled and fell silent again. This continued until it was nearly morning when Prowl decided that they should get back to the base and recharge. Jazz agreed, stretching while trying to keep in a yawn, climbing into the passenger side seat and giving out directions to the base when Prowl wasn't quite sure which way to turn.

When they got back to the base, Jazz got out and frowned when he saw Bumblebee standing by his Camaro but staring at the flame decorated semi, a blanket draped across his shoulders and dressed in only pajama pants.

"Bee?"

The blond jerked back slightly but relaxed when he saw it was Jazz. "You guys coming in late."

"You're the one that's staying up this late. What's wrong kid?"

Bumblebee shrugged. "Weird dream. I'm still not quite use to this body and I just feel better when I'm near my vehicle."

"Well, try to get more sleep kid. I think Ratchet and Prime wants to start some training with these bodies."

"Yes sir." Bumblebee began to walk back to the area where their rooms were glancing back a few times before getting to the door way to his room.

Jazz knew that Bumblebee wouldn't be able to see the Camaro since it was behind the semi and he was slightly confused as to why the younger Autobot kept looking back. Deciding to dismiss it for now, Jazz walked pass Prowl, touching the car's hood briefly before continuing on to his room, knowing that Prowl was following close behind. He'll have to talk to Ratchet about getting a biodroid form for Prowl when the medic wakes up later.


	4. Realizing

Thank you, those of you that have reviewed! I like getting feed back on whether things are understandable or not. On another note, I've already been poked at about changing eye colors from what the Autobots have. My answer to that is that it would be very boring for everyone to have blue eyes or whatnot in their human forms, but I am trying to keep their eye color in match with their vehicle's color scheme. Does that explain some stuff?

**oOo**

Bumblebee sighed, curling up on the hood of his Camaro and stared at the vehicle beside it, pulling his blanket tighter around himself. The red and blue flames of the semi filled his vision and for a while he let himself forget the world around him, focusing only on the metal below him and the soft hum that filled the air that a normal human wouldn't notice.

It's been at least a month since he got his new body, something he appreciated greatly since it let him walk around among the humans and not really be noticed. It's been almost a week since Prowl showed up with news that the rest of his squad would arrive soon. Bumblebee wasn't sure what he thought about having the twins running around the area with mischief on their mind or Wheeljack underhand with a potentially dangerous experiment in the works. Ratchet had enough stress on his mind, trying to fix Jazz's vehicle, but now Prowl was also helping out, the man's short black hair with red sides easy to pick out from Jazz's mostly silver dreadlocks and Ratchet's red and white ponytail.

Bumblebee was asleep when Prowl went through the procedure to connect to a biodroid body, so it took a while for him to get use to seeing a new person walking the place. The man adapted to the new body as quickly everyone else, and now wasn't found far from Jazz around the base.

Slowly, Bumblebee let himself fall asleep on the Camaro, knowing that the others wouldn't be up for a while, and hoped that no nightmares would come for the rest of the night.

**oOo**

"Little one?"

Bumblebee woke with a jerk, adrenaline rushing his system as he slid from the Camaro's hood and the vehicle instantly began to change to combat mode. Fear filled his mind and he did the only thing that his mind could think of.

Bumblebee ran.

The blond ran for the exit, his mind still half trapped in a hellish dream while he hoped that if anything, he wouldn't be pursued by the large mech that was standing over him. It was a while before he slowed down and by the time he stopped and looked around, he was standing in the forest that surrounded the Autobot base. His problem was mainly that he didn't know where the base was in the dense foliage. He could be within five minutes walking distance or five miles away and nothing around him gave him any clues.

Now that the adrenaline in his system began to wear off, Bumblebee felt even more tired than before. Carefully, he leaned himself against the closest tree and transferred enough of his mind back to his vehicle to convert it back to the Camaro form and left it at that. He wasn't sure who it was that woke him up and scared him, but Bumblebee didn't feel like dealing with anyone at the moment. If they really needed him, they could contact him through his vehicle.

When that was done, Bumblebee leaned back to take a look at the tree before him. There were a few branches close enough to the ground that he could grab if he did a running jump. Quickly twisting the blanket into a long rope, he tied it over one shoulder and backed up about ten paces before running to the tree and jumping as hard as he could. His hand caught the branch in a firm grip and he swung himself up, grabbing the next branch.

Ratchet said that Bumblebee managed to make his biodriod have a gymnast's body and the blond had questioned why after he got down from the obstacle course he ran. He was told it was probably because one of his main functions was espionage. A body that can move quickly, flexibly, and reach places that others had trouble with would be a great asset for a spy.

It was also handy for grabbing a cookie or two from under Ironhide's nose and running off, dodging whatever the man threw at him.

The blond smirked as he got to the tallest branch that he could safely sit on, untying the blanket from around him and pulling it close. It wouldn't be too bad to watch the scenery around him from his perch in the tree. And he might be able to find the base while he's at it.

Unnoticed to him, a black and white car pulled off a close by road, lowly edging closer.

**oOo**

Optimus watched as the pink Autobot listened to everything Ratchet said, her head tilted to one side so that she could keep an eye on the smaller, human form while watching the larger mech form. Arcee had managed to get to the base ahead of her other companions and was now fascinated with the fact that there was a possibility to move among the humans around her and actually go out in daylight. It was harder to be a driverless motorcycle than a driverless car.

"So, the little blond that tore out of the base was Bumblebee?" she asked, looking between the medic and the leader.

Optimus straightened from his slouch, looking at Arcee with worry. "Bumblebee ran off?"

"I guess so. I saw someone asleep on the top of that yellow car and when he woke up, he ran out of here. He even transformed into his normal form, but he made no move to attack or defend either. Pretty strange."

"Don't worry, Optimus," Ratchet said, setting down a tool. "These bodies, while strong, can only run so far before tiring and there's a tracker on each of us. No earth technology can block it or the link back to the vehicles. If Bumblebee isn't back by noon, we can go out and get him."

To prove his point, the medic turned to a row of computer screens and pulled up a few displays. In the middle of one was what Optimus assumed to be the base and there was a small blue dot a bit of a ways from it. Crystal blue eyes watched that dot for a few moments before turning away, but quickly turned back when Optimus heard Ratchet cussing out loud.

At the edge of the screen was a red dot and it slowly began to move its way to the blue one before the entire computer screen froze. "What's happening?"

"Something's interfering with the tracker, sir."

"You said that no earth technology can block it!"

"That isn't earth technology!" Moments later, alarms began to sound through the base.

Without a second thought, Optimus transferred himself over to his vehicle, feeling the engine roaring to life. He didn't think to call on the others for back up or to create a plan or that he just left his biodroid body motionless on the floor. He needed to get to Bumblebee _now_.

**oOo**

Bumblebee woke from his nap with a jerk, his body quickly balancing despite the sudden movement. Judging from the position of the sun, he wasn't asleep for long, but that wasn't the problem

The problem was that he couldn't seem to breathe. Even though he could feel himself taking in air without a problem, it felt like there was a tight, constricting band around his chest and across the back of his neck. Pain shot through his shoulders and he gasped silently. A sense of urgency filled him and he wanted to get back to the base as quick as possible.

He looked down to see where he should start making his way down but froze when a pair of bright red optics focused on him.

"Barricade!"

"Very knowledgeable for a fleshing!" the Decepticon growled. "Where's your Autobot?"

Bumblebee was barely out of reach of the large mech, but it didn't stop the fear from worming its way through him. "Autobot?" he squeaked. "What Autobot?"

"Don't play stupid! I know there's an Autobot signal coming from near here. And he won't be able to call on reinforcement either! I've made sure to block all possible contact."

A quick check confirmed his enemy's words. He could no longer feel the link between him and his car and no longer had a way of transferring himself back to it. If the small humanoid body he was in gets destroyed, he will be destroyed.

Barricade pushed against the tree suddenly and Bumblebee had to hang on, almost toppling over to the ground far below. "I'm not going to play nice for long, fleshling! Where's the Autobot!?"

"Right here!"

A pink blur shot through the trees below, tackling the Decepticon and Bumblebee nearly fell as two large hands gently cupped around him. He looked at the hands without comprehension but relaxed when he saw the red and blue paint just behind the hands. Carefully, he stepped out onto the hands, looking over to the fighting mechs. The pink blur had become an Autobot that was half the size of Barricade, but had back up in the form of Prowl.

The Decepticon didn't like being outnumbered three to one, quickly turning and running off before anyone could protest. Slowly, the constricting feeling wore off and Bumblebee felt relief as his connection back to his vehicle returned.

"Are you okay?" the deep voice rumbled softly.

Bumblebee looked up at his leader, nodding. "Yes sir."

Optimus brought his hands in closer to his body, Bumblebee balanced easily and moving with the motion. They began their way back to the base, Prowl and the pink Autobot coming up beside them.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Arcee," Bumblebee said, looking over at the female comrade.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have startled you like that."

The blond smiled at her, forgiving her easily. After all, she didn't know that it could have possibly been him. So much has changed since they parted ways many years ago.

The base soon came into sight and Bumblebee was surprised when Optimus didn't set him down once they got inside. Instead, he actually carried the blond all the way to Ratchet's area. He lowered his hands and Bumblebee carefully climbed off, watching the large mech turn and leave.

Ratchet got his attention and began to ask questions, Bumblebee answering them with only a small part of his attention. Most of it was focused on the unmoving form across the room, blue and red hair fanned out gently on a pillow.

"Are you able to access your vehicle?"

"Yes sir."

"What made you run?"

"I was startled, sir."

"The Decepticon saw you like this?"

"Yes sir. He believed that I was a human and that there was another Autobot around." Bumblebee paused for a moment before turning his full attention to the medic. "Sir? Why are all these things happening? I never ran before. Didn't have nightmares so often. What's going on?"

Ratchet looked at him sharply at the word "nightmares" but didn't say anything until Bumblebee was done talking. "It's possible the biodroid body. You're still you, same thoughts, memories, and personality, but the body has a different chemistry than our normal bodies. It might take a while to get fully use to. I know that I'm not but it gets easier every day."

"Thank you sir. May I go now?"

"Yes, go. Don't damage anything."

Bumblebee nodded and walked of the room, ignoring those around him, and went straight for his vehicle, climbing in and starting the engine, leaving before anyone could say anything. Again, he drove for a while, just wanting to get away from everyone in general and finally rolling to a stop on the hill that overlooked the city the Autobots had chose to live near, the one where their adventures on earth had started.

Slowly, Bumblebee let his awareness drift, feeling himself fall somewhere between both of his forms, trying to analyze his thoughts and feelings. The first thing that came to his mind was his leader. The blond frowned, trying to figure out why by sorting what he felt of him.

_**You would give your life to save Optimus.**_

_I would give my life to save any of my comrades_.

_**You looked up to him.**_

_Any soldier looks up to their commander._

_**You feel protected when he is near.**_

_Optimus Prime is one of the strongest beings known. Of course I would feel protected near him._

_**You sleep peacefully when you can hear Optimus's Spark.**_

…

_**You've been having strange dreams of your leader…**_

The blond's cheeks turned bright red and he was glad that he decided to find a place to himself. He hid his face in his hands as his mind didn't find a logical reply to that statement. Instead, it tried to bring up said dreams but he forced it back down, refusing to let it get to him.

The next comment shocked him

Bumblebee froze before fully transferring himself to his vehicle, taking off down the road to the one place he knew he could talk to someone. Pulling up into the driveway, the engine turned off and Bumblebee climbed out and walked to the house, nimbly pulling himself up and knocking on the second story window.

It opened and Sam looked at him questioningly. "Why are you outside my window?"

Bumblebee gave him a helpless shrug but climbed in when the window opened wide enough to let him. He looked around Sam's room for a moment, noting how it didn't seem to change between visits before focusing on Sam.

"Sam…?"

"Yea?"

"How do you know if you're in love?"

The human opened his mouth to answer but stopped when he realized what the question was. Despite the situation, Bumblebee is going to remember the look of shock on the boy's face.


	5. Realized

Optimus watched the figures on the obstacle course, feeling a slight headache coming on. Two days ago, after Arcee had arrived, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Wheeljack followed soon after and Ratchet merely gave them a file that explained exactly why the others had human like bodies.

Within twenty four hours, Ratchet was finished with each of them, producing a tall man with startling red hair that framed bright green eyes, a set of twins, one with dark red hair and the other with a light blond color, and a tiny woman with short black hair that covered one eye, pink streaks running through the locks.

"I am completely glad that those four are going to find a place of their own," Ratchet muttered, wincing when a small explosion went of in one area. He eyed the four Autobots as they finally made it to the end of the obstacle course, looking down at his timer. "Your four minutes slow."

"Four minutes!?" Sideswipe pushed back the dark red hair that was in his eyes, panting slightly. "We just got these bodies! Give us a while to get use to them and we can beat that!"

"Do you want to see what you're supposed to be able to do?" the medic asked, receiving nods in return. "Are you ready Bee?"

The four new arrivals turned and looked at the beginning of the course to see the young man raising his hand to signal to Ratchet. The medic hit a small buzzer and then it looked as if Bumblebee disappeared from the course. Optimus narrowed his eyes, watching for the flash of black and yellow, and smiled when he spotted the young man. Bumblebee dodged around one wall and vaulted over another with a powerful jump. His leg scythed out in a perfect arc, eliminating one target before going into a back flip, taking out another one as he passed it.

The blond came out of the course with another back flip and Optimus felt a surge of pride when Ratchet announced the time. "You've beaten your record by a good thirty seconds."

"Very impressive, Bumblebee," Optimus said, giving the blond a smile.

Said blond blushed and he muttered a soft "thank you sir" before quickly walking off, stretching his shoulders. Ratchet watched him for a moment before shrugging and turning back to the vaguely awed group before him.

**oOo**

Something woke Optimus in the middle of the night and he wasn't sure what it was. It didn't feel like anything was wrong, just that something was off. Quietly, he got out of bed and left his room, wandering towards the front of the base where their vehicles rested in a state of standby, ready to go at a moment's notice but not wasting energy either.

Silently, he walked up to the semi, trailing his hand across the blue and red flames and finally coming to a stop in front of the large grill. "Strange to see something one way and then suddenly see it from an entirely new perspective," he murmured, studying the vehicle.

He almost turned to leave when he noticed something out of place. He looked over at the Camaro to see Bumblebee lying on the hood, dressed for bed and shivering in the cool evening air. Walking over, Optimus almost picked him up to take the blond back to his room but stopped last minute. If the blond was willing to endure the cold in order to be near his Spark, Optimus wasn't going to force him back into his room.

Instead, the blue haired man walked into the large lounge where many chairs, couches, and television were and pulled a blanket off of a chair. He went back out to the vehicles and carefully covered the young Autobot with it, smiling softly when the blond pulled it closer and gradually stopped shivering. The blanket that Bumblebee favored was lost when he was cornered by Barricade and he apparently hasn't found another since

Optimus brushed a few locks of blond hair that escaped the half ponytail Bee wore his hair in, studying the young face. Behind the look of youth was a hardened warrior who's seen too many battles, who's fought of his fair share of enemies, who's risked his life many times to save a comrade in trouble. But that wasn't seen. In this form, a person didn't see any battle scars and damages done to him by the enemy. He was just a young man who acted like there never was a war in his life and went out of his way to talk to a friend or to give a helping hand when asked.

Bumblebee shifted in his sleep, the skin of his cheek barely brushing up against Optimus's hand and the man froze as his own words came back to him.

_Strange to see something one way and the suddenly see it from an entirely new perspective._

Quietly, Optimus walked back to his own room, his words turning over in his mind many times as he lay down. By the time sleep came, he didn't feel any closer to a logical answer.

**oOo**

Jazz was still partially asleep as he walked down the halls to Ratchet's room, surprised when a hand shot out from the doorway of the command center and he was pulled into the room. He blinked at the man in front of him, not sure how to start but decided to let his leader go first.

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Optimus asked, his hands twisting slightly in front of him.

"Depends on the question."

"How did you know that you loved Prowl?"

Jazz froze, looking at his leader as if he were someone new but decided to answer anyway. "It always felt like a part of me was missing? When he was near, my mind was put at ease? Sir, this is something that generally differs from being to being. Why do you ask?" Jazz grinned suddenly. "Do you have someone you fancy?"

"Why do you ask that?" Optimus said, his voice half an octave higher than usual. "As leader, I should know things in case someone under my command comes to me with questions."

"Uh huh… Do I need to tell you where little Sparklings come from then?"

Jazz was hard put to not laugh at the way his leader blushed a bright red but patted the man on the shoulder. "Don't worry sir. Your secret is safe with me."

Optimus scowled but decided to leave it at that. They turned to leave the room and Jazz nearly ran into Optimus when he stopped suddenly. Bumblebee stood before him, sky blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Sorry… sir. I thought that… uh… Jazz was in here… I heard his voice so…" The blond trailed off looking everywhere but at his leader.

"No no no! He's here! He's just behind me! Are you two going to help Ratchet out today?" Optimus was… babbling?

"Yes sir," Bumblebee responded quietly.

"You two have fun then! I'm going to check the perimeter alarms."

Optimus side stepped out of the way and began walking towards the front and Jazz watched him go with a slight grin. After a moment, he looked to Bumblebee and the grin widened.

"Anything new happening?"

The blond gave him a puzzled look and Jazz decided not to press… for now.

**oOo**

Author's Note: Part five, yo! Things are starting to build up!


	6. Questions

Jazz smirked slightly as he watched his commander and the small blond working around each other, each one careful not to get too close to the other. Optimus was babbling nearly incoherently while Bumblebee responded with soft "yes sir"s and "no sir"s. Bumblebee jumped when Optimus leaned over his shoulder to point out something he missed and worked on it furiously when the blue haired man turned back around.

"It's cute no matter how frustratingly oblivious they are to each other."

"Hmm?"

Jazz smiled when Prowl came up beside him, putting an arm around his waist and pressing a kiss to his temple. "Do you remember how you would always dance around me when you wanted to ask me out?"

"And how you seemed ignorant of it until you just pinned me to the ground one day during training?"

The dark skinned man leered at his lover. "You want to see if we can reenact it?"

**oOo**

Arcee grinned as Bumblebee helped her lift the large box holding a new television and move it through the doorway into the fairly large house that was bought by the newly arrived Autobots. The box wasn't that heavy for the woman, her body able to easily handle great amounts of weight, but the size of it was too much for her arms.

"Do you four like this place?" the blond asked, giving his comrade a smile.

"Yea. I think Ratchet was starting to twitch every time he saw Side or Sunny, and he refused to let Jack anywhere near his room." The house shook slightly and Arcee rolled her eyes. "Jack likes the basement and Sunny can be found in the garage, polishing his armor now that he can reach more places."

They set the box down and Bumblebee pulled out a knife, cutting open the box and leaned down into it, rummaging through the packing peanuts. When he leaned back up, the Styrofoam objects were stuck to his hair and face. He twitched slightly when the static electricity touched his exposed circuitry and he quickly got rid of the things.

"What about you, Bee? Why not move out of the base and live with us?"

The blond paused slightly, looking back into the box. "No thanks. I like it there. Besides, can't leave it to just Ratchet to cook for the others." His voice was muffled but Arcee thought she could hear slight embarrassment. The blond froze when a new voice echoed through the house, though.

"Kid? You in here?"

"Up here, Ironhide," Arcee answered.

The man appeared around the doorway. "Optimus said to check here first. C'mon kid. Ratchet needs another set of hands."

"Sure." Bumblebee dusted off his hands. "Call if you need anything."

"Thanks Bee." The woman watched as the blond left, following Ironhide, looking vaguely confused.

**oOo**

"Bumblebee?"

"Yes Jazz?"

"Do you know where Optimus is?"

"Front hanger by the diagnostic consoles," the blond said without pause.

"…Thanks"

**oOo**

Jazz looked into the command center, spotting his leader. "Optimus, where's Bumblebee?"

"In the medic bay with Ratchet," Optimus answered, still working on his computer.

Jazz grinned. "Thanks."

**oOo**

Prowl watched as his lover snickered, trying to hold it in. "Watch this!" Jazz walked over to where Bumblebee was working by Ratchet, his entire concentration on the part in his hand. "I can't seem to find Optimus."

"He's napping in his room." The blond looked up, frowning vaguely. "Why are you always asking me?"

"You just seem to know the answer."

Bumblebee scowled at him. Jazz saw a faint blush on his cheeks anyway.

**oOo**

Bumblebee felt his biodroid body relax slightly as a part of his mind transferred over to his vehicle, the large mech moving with ease. He didn't have the same amount as control as Ratchet might have, but he had enough to assist the medic. Carefully, the large mechs picked up the part they needed to work on and Bumblebee quickly climbed up the leg of his mech and swung onto the arm, pulling a strong rope over with him to secure the part.

"Careful," Bumblebee heard Optimus say softly from his position on the ground.

Bumblebee gripped tighter onto his perch, mindful of his leader's words and quickly slung the rope around the part and tying it quickly, finishing it with a slight flourish.

"Watch it!"

The blond looked up at Ratchet's words that came before something shifted and Bumblebee felt weightless for a moment in time. He didn't quite know what happened, but when he looked up, he saw Optimus's bright eyes peering at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his arms tightening around Bumblebee's shoulders.

The young Autobot scrambled to stand, pulling away from the blue haired man while he could feel the heat suffuse his face. "I'm fine sir."

Bumblebee stared at his leader for a few moments longer before he turned back to his mech and climbed back up to finish his job. Unnoticed to him, crystal blue eyes watched him, tensing every time it looked like he was going to slip again.

Unnoticed to both of them, Jazz smirked as he watched them both.

**oOo**

"Hey… Jazz?"

"Yea kid?"

Bumblebee fidgeted in front of the man, looking down at his hands as if he could get courage from the slender fingers. "How do you know if you're in love?"

The blond looked up in concern as Jazz started coughing badly, wiping the soda from his face with a napkin. That concerned went away when he realized that Jazz was _laughing_.

What could be so funny?

**oOo**

I know this chapter is kind of sporadic and short, but it'll get better within two chapters, I promise!


	7. Snow

Bumblebee sat up from his perch on top of Ratchet's vehicle, watching as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked into the base silently, making their way to the medic who hasn't noticed them. Between them was a large bowl full of white stuff and Bumblebee didn't have to wait long to find out what it was.

"_**I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FREAKS!"**_

The twin brothers ran off laughing, ducking as various tools flew by and Bumblebee slid off of the hood and went over to where a pile of the stuff still sat. He touched it and his eyes widened slightly.

"What is this?"

"It's snow," Ratchet answered, sounding disgusted. He shook his head and more snow fell from his hair. "I'm going to go take a hot shower…"

The medic walked away, leaving a trail of dripping snow, and Bumblebee gleefully picked up a handful of the snow, packing it into a tight ball, and then added more until the ball was round and almost as big as his hand. He tossed it up in the air a few times before spotting Ironhide near the back end of the hanger.

Before he could regret it, he threw the compacted snow at the man, ducking down after seeing the ball hitting the gray haired man in the back of the head. He wasn't sure what happened after that, but the next time that Bumblebee looked up from his hiding place, Ironhide wasn't in sight.

Shrugging, he went back to the pile of snow and as he reached down for it, he felt something hit him in the back of the head and he turned in time to see dark red hair disappear out the entrance of the base. Quickly making a snowball, he ran out to of the base and threw it at the first glance of red hair he caught.

Bumblebee froze when bright green eyes turned toward him and he felt all the color leave his face when he met the business end of what appeared to be a large, bazooka like gun. The blond held up his hand and smiled weakly.

"Now Wheeljack… I wasn't trying to hit you…"

"But you hit me all the same," the scientist replied, grinning, but suddenly turned around when a rather slushy snowball hit him in the back of the head and fired.

Arcee yelped and hid behind a tree, the ammunition of snowballs hitting the tree instead of her. Bumblebee grinned but had to dive as the gun was turned towards him and fired off a few snowballs. He hid behind a tree but smiled when he spotted Sideswipe a short ways off. Quickly, he began to make more snowballs. It was useless to go into battle without ammunition.

**oOo**

Optimus looked out of a window near him, watching as the bright white snowflakes fell from the sky. Snow wasn't seen often in California, especially in their area, but if it was cold enough, it was possible, even if for a short while.

A soft noise caught his attention and he looked over in time to see Bumblebee walking into the room, shivering violently but with a smile on his face. Optimus quickly got up and moved over to the blond, pulling a blanket along with him. The blond looked up, surprised, when the blanket was thrown over his shoulders and he blinked when his icy cold hands were held between slightly larger, much warmer hands.

"Sir?" he asked, his voice muffled by the blanket.

"What were you thinking, going out in that weather?"

"I'm sorry sir. But it wasn't cold enough for me to go into stasis."

"It's not that, Bumblebee. This body is just more receptive to temperatures. You could have gotten sick if you stay out there much longer dressed like that."

Bumblebee looked down at his soaking jeans and t-shirt and nodded. Optimus rubbed his hands against Bumblebee's and the blond blushed slightly, ducking his head in hopes that Optimus wouldn't see.

"Optimus?"

The leader looked up to the door where Ratchet was standing. "Yes?"

"I need your help."

"I'll be there in a moment." Crystal blue eyes looked to Bumblebee and the blue haired man smiled. "Go take a shower and get something hot to drink, okay?"

"Y-yes sir," Bumblebee stuttered, though it felt like he didn't need to do that. He was warm enough after the way Optimus smiled at him.

**oOo**

Author's Note: Again, sorry for the shortness, but I promise that the next chapter will be longer. Please hold on!


	8. Bumblebee's Gift

Author's Note: Yes, I know it's no longer Christmas, but this was started a while back and I thought it worked out well for what happened. Forgive the odd lateness in holidays, ne?

**oOo**

"Hey! Jazz! Jazz! Jazzjazzjazzjazzjazzjazzjazz!" Bumblebee bounced over to the first lieutenant, a strange jingling following his every move and step.

"Slow down, kid! You're going to start sounding like Blurr there!" The blond stopped before Jazz and the dark skinned man reached out, turning Bumblebee's head slightly. "And what's with the hair and bells?"

Bumblebee touched his hair, the blond and black locks weaved back in a French braid and bells decorating it. "Mikaela got to me when I dozed off. But Jazz! Can we have a Christmas Party?"

"Christmas Party?"

"Yea! Sam and Mikaela won't have school starting next week and we can invite them and the Lennoxs and the other Autobots over! Ron and Judy can come to if they can! We can get together and talk since everyone has yet to be introduced to everyone else."

"Where will we have it at?"

"Here? There's plenty of room even without moving our vehicles around. No explosions, no damage, just us and food and maybe a few small games!"

"Beware of alcohol," came Ratchet's voice as he appeared hanging from the arm of Jazz's converted vehicle, swinging slightly. "Alcohol affects normal humans, but it will be three fold with our biodriods. Socket wrench."

"You'll have to talk to Optimus about it," Jazz answered, turning around to grab the tool, throwing it up to Ratchet. "He'll have the final say and it would be better if it came directly from you."

Jazz pretended not to notice when the blond's cheeks turned red. "I-if you're sure…"

"He'll like the idea, trust me."

**oOo**

Bumblebee grinned, glad he was able to convince their leader into letting them have the party at the base. He was also glad that they lived far enough away from civilization to be as loud as they want because the music that Jazz chose for the night echoed off the walls around him.

"Bumblebee!"

The blond barely turned in time to catch the black haired biker that hugged him with a running tackle. "I'm glad that you could make it, Arcee."

"You were brilliant for thinking this up!"

"It wasn't all my idea. Sam and Mikaela helped with it. Where's the other three?"

"Sunny is grabbing some snacks or drinks, I can't remember which, and Side is trying to drag Wheeljack out of the house. Hello!" The girl lit up when she spotted their human friends. "Who are they?"

Bumblebee walked over, smiling when the humans looked up at them. "Hey everyone. This is Arcee. Arcee, this is Will and Sarah Lennox, Sam Witwicky, and Mikaela Banes."

"You're a girl!"

Mikaela elbowed her boyfriend in the stomach but smiled sweetly at the female Autobot, ignoring the coughing her actions produced. "You'll have to excuse Sam. He's never been good at talking to women."

Sarah smiled behind her cup but was caught by Bumblebee anyway. The blond bowed his head to the older woman. "You look good, Mrs. Lennox. Was it hard to find a babysitter for the little one?"

"Not at all. Since Christmas is a week away, it was fairly easy. Now, if your party was next week, it would have been near impossible."

"Ladies and gentlemen! …And Ratchet…" Sideswipe grinned as the medic growled at him. "The fun has arrived!"

Bumblebee rolled his eyes at the man's antics. "You'll never get repaired by Ratch ever again if you keep this up, Side!"

"I have Jackie here to fix me if I need help!" The redhead draped himself over said Autobot scientist, only to be pushed off.

Arcee started to laugh. "Make sure I'm out of the house when that happens please."

Everyone laughed and Bumblebee took a moment to excuse himself from the group, making his way to the table that held various foods and drinks that everyone brought. The alcoholic section was watched carefully by Prowl who would allow Bumblebee and the other young Autobots drink, but not the teenage humans. When Sam complained about this, Mikaela pointed out that the Autobots were at least thousands of years older than them.

The blond poured himself a cup of the spiked punch and downed it quickly, barely tasting the alcohol but feeling it affect him immediately. The room grew pleasantly warm and everything seemed to hum. Bumblebee looked up, automatically searching for the reds and blues of his leader's hair. He smiled softly when he spotted Optimus talking to Will Lennox, apparently telling a story and making gestures to emphasize a part. He got another cup and looked up when Jazz came up next to him.

"You okay, kid?"

"Yea." He stared down at the neon green liquid before taking a small sip of it. "I think I'm going to do it tonight."

Bumblebee jumped when Jazz gripped his shoulder, smiling at him encouragingly. "It'll be fine, Bee."

"Umm… Thank you?"

Jazz made his way back to his self appointed job as the D.J., barely ducking in time as a socket wrench flew through the air, aimed at Ironhide. Ratchet look murderous at the gray haired man and Ironhide himself looked confused as to why. It might have to do with the five or six cookies and a few hunks of brownies the weapon specialist was holding.

Deciding not to get between the two, Bumblebee slowly made his way back to the vehicles, wanting to have some time alone in hopes of building up his courage.

**oOo**

It was fairly late at night when Optimus looked around, taking note of who was left at the party. The event had been slowly winding down and many of the guests had disappeared. Will and Sarah offered to take Sam and Mikaela home, wanting to get home themselves in order to relieve the babysitter and only the Autobots were left at the base.

Most of them were still in the hanger, Prowl sitting by Jazz, and Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Arcee, and Wheeljack sitting close by, talking and laughing. Ironhide had been chased off by a yelling Ratchet fifteen minutes ago. Optimus frowned when he couldn't find the distinctive black and blond hair anywhere, setting his drink down and walking away from the party over to where his vehicle form sat in the shadows of the main hanger, hoping to find Bumblebee near the Camaro as the blond tended to go when he had something on his mind to work out.

The leader frowned when he noticed the driver side door of his semi hanging open, a pair of booted feet dangling from the seat. Carefully, he pulled himself up and eyed the sprawl that Bumblebee was in, appearing asleep in the cab. "Bumblebee…" he said softly, shaking the young man's leg.

"How do you know?" the blond ask, his voice clear but soft.

Optimus leaned back slightly. "Know what?"

"That you love someone." He sat up, his black and blond hair no longer in its habitual half ponytail, framing his face and his eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. "I've read many books over the subject. Scientific, religious, fiction… I've listen to only Primus knows how many love songs in every language possible. I've asked Kael and Sam. I've asked Will and Sarah. Hell, I even asked Jazz!"

Bumblebee slid out of the semi's cab and Optimus had to catch him. The blond was drunk!

"I asked Judy at the end of it all. She said that love is for a person that you would give your life for, your entire being for, your Spark for, and you still haven't given them all you wanted. The person that you love would make you feel safe and protected without trying, would never ask for more that you can give, and would love you no matter what."

Optimus opened his mouth to say something but callused fingertips made him pause and Bumblebee continued.

"Y'know, in books and movie, lovers would fight and eventually fall in love with each other or meet by chance in a park or set up on a blind date by friends or just grow up with each other and marry. I met the one I love in person with my vocal processors crushed nearly beyond repair and trying to tell everyone that the AllSpark made it off planet and was being chased by his brother.

"I know that you're just going to say that I'm drunk, but that doesn't matter. I'm going to remember this in the morning and I won't regret this no matter what..." The blond trailed off but looked at Optimus with clear eyes.

"I give you my devotion and will lay out my life for you and not just because you're my commander. You're the one that makes me feel safe no matter what. Lying in the cab of your vehicle, listening to the hum of your Spark, has given me more comfort than my own Spark. I wake up from nightmares and come out here and when I see the flames in the hanger, everything is once again as it should be.

"I know that after what I said, it cannot be taken back. I give these words and feelings to you as a gift. You can do what you wish with it. Ignore it, reject it, or accept it. No matter what your choice is, please know that I will continue to be your soldier and follow your every command without question and will never think less of you. I love you, Optimus Prime, and I swear upon the name of Primus that you have my entire being at your will."

"Bumblebee?"

The blond straightened his posture, standing steadily on his feet without any help from his leader. "Yes sir."

"Kiss me?"

Bumblebee obeyed without question and it took a moment for his mind to catch up with the rest of him but it no longer mattered. Warm, broad hands were gently holding his waist as the cool metal of the semi touched his back, the body heat of the taller man permeating his form. His entire body ached at the way Optimus held him, touched him, _kissed_ him, and everything wasn't as it should be.

Everything was _perfect_.

He whimpered when fingers brushed against the skin of his cheek and had to hold onto Optimus as those same fingers swept against the circuitry on his neck. Eventually they had to separate for air and the only thing that held Bumblebee up was the semi and Optimus.

"I'm not sure what brought me here," Optimus murmured, soothing a few locks of hair away from Bumblebee's face. "When I notice that you were no longer with everyone else, my first thought was to find you. Not that you would be asleep or outside for some fresh air, but that must find you."

Optimus leaned forward and Bumblebee reached up and laced his fingers through the blue and red hair. Optimus placed soft kisses on Bumblebee's lips and trailed down to the blond's jaw line, barely touching the circuitry. Bumblebee cried out, arching up against the man and clutched him tighter.

The older man chuckled as he pulled away, Bumblebee falling bonelessly against him. "There is a war going on and one of us could get hurt, but I'm not going to push you away. I'd rather be with you at any chance I get than push you away in hopes of not being hurt."

Bumblebee smiled, a sweet gentle expression that Optimus only saw a few times before. "Thank you, Optimus."

"For what?"

"For giving this a chance."

"Thank you for giving me a chance,"

Optimus moved slightly before quickly picking up the blond, smiling when Bumblebee gave an odd squeak, and began his way to the back of the base where their rooms were. "What are you doing?" Bumblebee asked.

"Taking you to bed. You're worn out, still drunk, and probably haven't had a full recharge in a long while."

"Can I sleep with you?"

Startled, Optimus looked at Bumblebee and he could feel a blush working its way onto his cheeks. "I don't think we should move that fast."

The younger looking man blinked and then blushed brighter than Optimus. "Not like that, sir. It's just that I've been… I just want to be by your side."

"What's been happening to keep you from a full recharge?" When the blond didn't answer, Optimus scowled and said, in a voice close to that of his original form, "Bumblebee…"

"I've been having nightmares," was all he said.

Optimus refused to let his sigh escape, but he held the blond tighter. "I won't ask you about it, but if you do want to talk about it, come to me at any time."

"Thank you sir."

Carefully, Optimus opened the door to his room, letting it shut behind him and plunging the room into darkness. He set the blond down on the bed and removed his shoes before taking off his own shoes and crawling into bed beside Bumblebee. Optimus wasn't sure what to do, never sharing a sleeping space with anyone, but Bumblebee leaned over enough to kiss him lightly before settling down to sleep, his head pillowed just below Optimus's chin. The leader slowly laid his arm over the slim waist and when Bumblebee sighed softly, curling closer to Optimus, the older man smiled and let himself fall asleep.

His first Christmas will be one that will never be forgotten.

**oOo**

Jazz smiled as Prowl handed him a plate of breakfast foods and a coffee before settling down himself by his lover on the couch. The next day after the party was fairly quiet even though there were more people over than usual. Arcee and Sunstreaker were found asleep in one room and Wheeljack and Sideswipe in another. Jazz wasn't surprised by this, though. Prowl had warned him. What surprised him was…

"Ironhide and Ratchet!?" Jazz asked, wiping away the coffee he nearly inhaled.

Prowl shrugged, giving Jazz a helpless look. "I think they were pretty well out of it, but yea, they were in Ratchet's room when I checked in on everyone. I couldn't find Bumblebee, though."

"Across the hall in Prime's." Jazz happily took a bite of eggs as Prowl stared at him in disbelief. "I started to suspect when they began to dance around each other over the smallest things. And when they started to ask some odd questions."

"Well good!" Prowl said. "Bumblebee shouldn't have gone through the war and Optimus needs someone to lean on!"

Jazz snickered. "That statement sounds contradictory, but yea." He was about to say more when Prowl pointed to the hall with his fork. He looked over in time to watch his leader walking back to the sleeping area with two plates. He turned back to Prowl, scowling. "Why didn't you bring me breakfast in bed?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that wanted to get up early and watch cartoons."

"Oh yea…"

Prowl shook his head, smiling.

"What's going on, oh fearless first lieutenant?"

Jazz grinned as Arcee and Sunstreaker walked into the room, the man wearing just his jeans and his shirt looking huge on the woman at his side. "Fun night, you two?"

"Fun night," Arcee said, "just wish that I didn't drink as much." She sat down in the recliner chair, pulling the short blanket draped over it to wrap around her shoulder. "I should have listened when Ratchet said alcohol affects these bodies more than humans."

"Be sure to check by Ratchet when he gets up so that you're not driving home drunk."

Arcee blinked. "I can drive home drunk? Even if I just transfer over to my vehicle?"

"The alcohol in your system will still affect your mind since you'll still be connected to your biodriod at the lowest levels."

"Weird…"

"Guys…"

Everyone looked over to the doorway where Sideswipe was standing, staring down the hall with wide eyes. "I think I just walked in on Ratchet and Ironhide…"

"They still out of it?"

He blinked and looked at Prowl, but his expression did not change one bit. "Umm… no. Not 'out of it' at all."

Jazz and Prowl looked at each other and grinned. "Guess we get to tease them about it. And they can't blame it on the alcohol!"


	9. Why Not?

Author's Note: Short and editted to keep the rating and such. Full version can be found at adultfanfiction dot net, under the same author and story name. But don't expect that much...

And yes, this has to be one of my favorite OTP. Yaoi in this chapter. Don't like don't read don't flame.

Takes place during the last part of the last chapter.

**oOo**

Ratchet blinked as Ironhide went down, the ratchet wrench he threw at the man skittering across the floor. He was vaguely surprised that he actually hit the man and he didn't dodge in time. Quickly, the medic walked over to the taller man, taking a step back when Ironhide turned over and glared up at him.

"That hurt!"

"You've had harder hits than that!"

"Not in this body!" Ironhide gingerly touched his forehead where there was a bruise forming. "Am I bleeding?"

"You're not bleeding, you whimp!" Ratchet pulled the man back to his feet and practically dragged him down the hall, away from the Christmas party to his room. Forcing the man to sit, he pulled out an ice pack and pressed it against the rising bruise. The man winced and Ratchet felt guilty. After all, he was the one to throw the tool that hit him.

"Why are you so violent?" Ironhide asked, taking the pack from Ratchet.

"Why be nice and encourage others to come back?"

Ironhide laughed at that and smiled at the medic. Slowly, as if not to startle Ratchet, he reached up and kissed the medic softly.

Ratchet tried to push Ironhide away but there was n strength behind his efforts. When Ironhide did pull away, gold eyes were studying him.

"You're drunk."

"No, I'm not."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

The weapon specialist set the ice pack down, thinking that he made the wrong move but then Ratchet was suddenly straddling his lap and kissing him, slender fingers lacing through steel gray hair. Ironhide groaned softly, his hand to going to the slim waist and worked under the shirt, brushing against the soft skin. Ratchet pulled away with a gasp, shuddering when callused hands continued to stroke his skin.

"How do you… nnn… know… ahh!"

Ironhide smiled at the medic's reaction. "You told us to read the manuals on these bodies… It mentioned how much more sensitive our bodies are in places like here," a hand brushed against a nipple, making Ratchet arch against him, "And here…" Lips touched the exposed circuitry and the medic cried out, gripping Ironhide's shoulders tightly.

The gray haired man stood quickly, holding tightly onto Ratchet as the medic clung to him. He walked over to the open doorway the lead into Ratchet's private rooms and gently laid him down on the bed. He began to quickly shed his clothes, pausing for only a moment when hands lightly touched his stomach. Throwing his shirt to the side and kicking off his pants, Ironhide grabbed hold of the slightly darker hands, bringing them to his lips and kissing them lightly, before leaning down and kissing the medic.

**oOo**

Ironhide didn't know what woke him up, but when he opened his eyes, it was bright outside, obviously morning. Ratchet was still curled up next to him and Ironhide smiled. The medic looked so relaxed, his hair flared out against the dark sheets and his limbs falling every which way.

Carefully, he leaned over, brushing his lips against Ratchet's before moving to nip at his jaw line. He would make sure that the medic relaxed every once in a while.


	10. Optimus's Gift

Author's Note: Just because the last one and this one are so short. Again, ignore the off season holiday.

**oOo**

Optimus took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him, worrying that no one would be home, but was relieved when the door opened, revealing the one person he wanted to talk to.

"Mrs. Witwicky? Ma'am? May I speak with you?"

"… The house isn't going to blow up any time soon, is it?" she asked after spotting the semi sitting in the driveway.

Optimus frowned. "No ma'am."

"Good. Come in!" The woman pulled him into the house, setting him down on the couch in the living room. "What is it that you need?"

"I… uh… I need ideas for a Christmas present and I don't know where to start."

"I see. Is it for someone special?"

"Yes ma'am."

Judy hid a smile at the immediate answer he gave her. "Well, let's brain storm. What are some things your special someone likes?"

**oOo**

Jazz nearly had the door opened when it was slammed shut in his face. The man blinked when he heard the lock click into place, followed by what sounded like a person rummaging around in the room. A few moments later, the door opened and bright blue eyes peeked out before the door opened wider.

"Sorry, Jazz. I thought you were possibly someone else."

A silver eyebrow rose slightly. "Is this 'someone else' Bumblebee?" Optimus turned a bright red and that was all Jazz needed. "What did you call me for?"

"I need your opinion on something."

"Sure. Shoot."

"Well…"

**oOo**

Bumblebee jumped slightly when a blue head appeared over the edge he was perched on but smiled at the man. "Hey."

"Hey. Ratchet said that you were up here."

The blond nodded. "It's nice to watch the sunset up here." He leaned over and rested his head on Optimus's shoulder as the man sat down beside him. "What did you need sir?"

"Can't I just come up here to be with you?" Optimus glanced down at the young Autobot when he didn't reply and smiled as the blond just moved closer to him. "Actually, I have something for you."

Bumblebee leaned back, giving him a confused look but took the package that Optimus handed him. It was wrapped simply in brown paper with bright curly gold ribbon keeping it closed. He pulled the ribbon off and opened the paper, staring down at what was revealed.

"It's a Christmas present. I know it's earlier but I didn't know if you would like it and I couldn't figure out what to get you and then I had to get Mrs. Witwicky's help and I couldn't decide what color and-"

Optimus stopped abruptly when the blond pulled him down for a kiss and stayed silent as Bumblebee draped the knitted, red and yellow blanket around the leader's shoulder and moved so that he sat between Optimus's legs. Optimus leaned forward, wrapping his arms and the blanket around the blond's shoulders and felt himself relax.

Bumblebee was right. It was nice to watch the sunset from there.


	11. Courting

_Prowl watched the sleek, silver white mech before him, the Cybertronian warrior's moves flashing in the light of the training area. To him, the moves were the most graceful of dances, something that he himself cannot match no matter how he practiced. Blue visor hid the bright optics from sight, but Prowl didn't care if he was caught watching. Maybe then he would have a chance to talk to him._

"_You're spacing out again."_

_The tactician started before turning to stare at the grinning Sideswipe. The other mech just glanced back to the warrior on the floor before looking back to Prowl, his grin turning into a smirk. "You like him, don't you?"_

_Prowl felt his face flush. "Illogical! Why would you think that!?"_

"_Who wouldn't? Sleek, powerful, smart, stylish… Anyone would love to be with Jazz."_

_The mech on the floor looked up at the sound of his name and Prowl froze, feeling his mind scramble as the visor slid away to reveal bright blue optics. He opened his mouth to say something but his mind shut down, freezing him completely._

_When he came back, there were two new mechs on the floor, practicing, and a message left for him._

Try not to freeze next time.

_Prowl muffled a groan and hid his face in his hands. He needed to talk to someone._

_**oOo**_

"_What do you need to talk about, Prowl?"_

"_What do you do if you want to be with someone?"_

_Prowl smiled weakly as Optimus just continued to stare at him. The mech rubbed his nose for a moment before sighing. "I value that you come to me when you would like someone to talk you through something. But this is something that you would get better feedback with from Jazz."_

"_Jazz!" Prowl's vocals went off the chart, making Optimus cringe from the range it was in. When he spoke again, he made sure that his voice was at an acceptable range. "Why do I need to ask Jazz?"_

"_He knows more about things like this. You know me. Jazz is more knowledgeable of the social aspects of life. No! Don't you dare freeze in here!"_

_The last thing Prowl remembered hearing from the larger mech was a muttered curse and a soft sigh. Then his mind shut down again for at least the second time that day._

_**oOo**_

_The tactician breathed out slowly, calming his mind before he went up to the sleek mech he was infatuated with, holding back the feeling of freezing up. He could feel his circuits scramble for a moment but he ruthlessly crushed that down. "Hey Jazz."_

"_Hey! Optimus mentioned that you might be dropping by."_

"_He did?" Prowl's voice squeaked oddly but Jazz didn't say anything. "I guess he would. He said that you would know best how to socialize."_

"_What do you need to know?"_

"_How do you ask someone out?"_

_Jazz paused for a moment, thinking. "Start out with just asking the one in question to do things. Spar, out for a drink, talking about things, your choice. Having fun is the main point. Who's the lucky bot?"_

"_Eh?" Prowl blinked at him but was saved from answering when Ironhide showed up, telling Jazz that Optimus was requesting him. Jazz got up and left Prowl at the desk with a smile. Prowl watched as the mech walked away, stifling a soft sigh. He had it bad…_

_**oOo**_

_Prowl muttered softly to himself, working through the various scenarios in his head and still freezing when it came near the end. No matter what, his mind wouldn't process the outcome of what would happen if he asked Jazz out and he felt like he screwed up his chance. Every time he came near Jazz, he would stutter and couldn't get the words he wanted out. Jazz didn't mention this being unusual and would still talk to him easily, but Prowl felt like his chances were going down. It wouldn't be long until someone else asked Jazz out._

"_Hey Prowl?"_

_The mech looked up at Jazz and smiled, the only thing he seemed to do when the silver white mech was around. "Yes Jazz?"_

"_Do you want to spar later?"_

Don't look into it like that. He's just asking for a spar.

"_Sure. I won't be able to do so until much later."_

"_That's good! See you at the training area then!"_

_Prowl nodded as Jazz left and sighed softly to himself. At least he would still get to be with Jazz._

_**oOo**_

_By the time that Prowl got to the training area, Jazz was already there and practicing in the empty place. Prowl allowed himself a moment to watch the mech but walked over when he was spotted, making sure all of his joints were loose and ready for a fight. Jazz grinned and came at him, knocking him to the floor._

"_You weren't ready!"_

"_I just got here…" Prowl got back up and focused on his partner, holding his hands loosely in fists. "Now I'm ready."_

"_Good!"_

_Once again, Prowl found himself on the ground, but this time Jazz was straddling him, keeping him pinned to the floor. The visor slid away and Prowl stopped struggling when Jazz's bright blue optics focused on him again and the tactician froze at Jazz's words._

"_So, how about a date after this?"_

**oOo**

The first thing that Jazz felt was an odd sense of vast space, almost like he was wearing clothes too big for him. But in the same way, he no longer felt restricted. Something shifted behind him and he was acutely aware of his lover's Spark.

"Did it go okay?"

"Everything went fine."

Jazz looked to the medic who was standing on the hand of his bipedal form, eye level with him. "You appear to be adapting well being back in your original body. Anything feeling odd or off?"

"My body feels a bit big."

"Normal until your Spark adapts to it. After all, the body you woke up in a while back was roughly a third of your current size."

Jazz turned to see his biodroid body, smiling slightly when he noticed that Prowl's was lying beside his. He looked back to Ratchet and asked, "What about information exchange?"

"Between you and Prowl?" The hand Ratchet was standing on moved forward and the medic began to unhook the various cords attached between Jazz and Prowl that supported Jazz's body and Spark until the transfer was complete. "That would be normal, seeing how close you two are. I want you two to rest for a while though. And Jazz, I want you to stay in your vehicle for the next few days until you're back in working order."

"Yes sir."

The medic moved to the other end of the large room to put away the cords and Jazz relaxed back against Prowl, humming softly when gentle fingers stroked against sensitive wires. It was quiet enough that Jazz almost fell asleep when Prowl spoke up.

"What did you get from me?"

"Your memories of you trying to figure out how to get me."

The white mech chuckled. "That was a disaster."

"I thought it came out pretty good. After all, I'm the lucky bot."

**oOo**

Author's Note: Someone somewhere asked for how Jazz and Prowl got together. I hope this makes sense on this end.


	12. Test

Bumblebee took the foil off of the glass casserole pan and put it in the oven, smiling as he set the timer for an hour, just in time for dinner. He needed to make something enough to feed six others and luckily Mrs. Witwicky gave him something before he left. She said to set it in the oven for an hour and it would be done.

He had just gotten done setting the timer when the world seemed to explode around him and he blinked rapidly, feeling a powder substance fall from his body. Stifled laughter reached his ears and Bumblebee whirled around, spotting blond and red hair disappearing from the doorway of the kitchen.

"I'm going to kill you two!" the young Autobot screamed, chasing after the twin pranksters. The chase went on for a short while until the twins ran out of the base and Bumblebee's expression went from ticked off to resigned when he saw the long trail of flour.

Grumbling, the blond stalked to the area where the cleaning supplies were kept and pulled out a broom and dustpan. After spending twenty minutes of cleaning up the flour trial and the pile in the kitchen, Bumblebee decided to go take a shower since he had at least another half hour before dinner would be done.

"Whoa!"

Bumblebee spun out of the way, leaving a faint flour cloud and barely missed running into his leader. The taller man steadied the blond with a hand on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Sunny and Side?"

The scowl was the only answer he needed but Optimus stopped when Bumblebee tugged on his sleeve. When he turned around, he was slightly caught by surprise when the blond pulled him down slightly and kissed him chastely on the lips.

The young warrior walked away, leaving his leader looking a bit dumbfounded in the middle of the hall, and hummed softly to himself as he continued to the showers. He quickly stripped off his clothing, washed off, and dried off before pulling out a clean set of clothing from his personal locker.

He was drying off his hair and about to walk out of the room when the door opened before him and bright green eyes looked at him earnestly.

"Can I help you..?"

Wheeljack grinned at him. "You're just the person I was looking for! C'mon, I need to test something!"

The scientist began to drag him down the hall and Bumblebee began to panic. "Whoa! No! I don't want to test anything! Find someone else to do it! The twins are probably still near by! They'd be willing to help!"

Wheeljack rolled his eyes and pulled him into the medic bay where Ratchet was tinkering with something. Bumblebee tripped but managed to land in the chair near the medic, looking between the two.

"What is this about?" the blond asked.

"What is your normal processing usage?" Wheeljack asked, moving slightly damp blond and black hair to access the exposed circuitry on the right side of Bumblebee's neck and ear.

"Which body?"

"Both, when in full awareness."

"Biodroid body is at about sixty percent. Roughly the same for the vehicle. Why?"

"Remember when Arcee came and scared you and you managed to transform your vehicle?" Ratchet asked in a vaguely distant voice. "What was your processing usage then? At the same time."

"Biodroid at ninety percent or so, and the vehicle at twelve percent. Why?"

"We made you something!" The redhead took the thing from Ratchet's hand and gave it to Bumblebee despite the angry scowl the medic gave him.

Bumblebee gingerly took the item from Wheeljack, barely touching the yellow and black design painted over the metal. The actual structure of the thing looked familiar but he couldn't place it. "What is it?"

"Well…"

Before Wheeljack could answer, Bumblebee's eyes widened in horror and interrupted him. "Slaggit! Dinner!"

"Ironhide is watching it," Wheeljack answered, waving off the question. "I think we'll have enough time to test this thing out before dinnertime, anyway. What do you say?"

Bumblebee blinked and looked over at Ratchet who didn't protest against it. If the medic was willing to piece him back together…

**oOo**

Bumblebee panted as he came to a stop, collapsing against the foot the bipedal form of his vehicle and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Ratchet and Wheeljack walked over to him, looking down at the screen of tiny computer attached to their right arm. Bumblebee winced as he stood back up, muscles protesting. He just ran through a new training course at their encouragement and felt like he had the hardest workout he ever experienced since he first got the body, despite working out every morning in the old obstacle course.

"Processing usage?"

"Fifty percent in both bodies."

"I know that this is only the trial version," Wheeljack said, making notes, "But what's your opinion of it?"

"When will I get the finalized version?"

**oOo**

Author's Note: Again, short, but this is quickly catching up to what I have written. If you see something wrong with spelling or whatnot, tell me!


	13. Demonstrate

Bumblebee felt a bit guilty when he snuck out the device that Wheeljack and Ratchet made, but the feeling was to addictive to just let it go and wait patiently for another trial run. The young Autobot no longer felt satisfied with his normal workout in the mornings. It no longer had a thrill or a push as it use too.

The blond carefully laid the device onto the passenger side seat of the Camaro and crawled on top of the hood, listening to the engine cool down and watching the sun rise over the hills near the Autobot base. His body hummed pleasantly with the remains of adrenaline and excess energy and the last thing he wanted to do was go back to the base.

A deep rumble soon reached Bumblebee and he looked up and watched as the large, flame covered semi pulled up beside the Camaro, Optimus carefully climbing out of the cab.

"This is a new area," the man murmured, looking out over the mock buildings and streets that covered a large part of the area before them. Crystal blue eyes focused on Bumblebee. "Ratchet said that you would be out here."

Bumblebee's face flushed and ducked his head so that his loose hair hid his eyes. "So I've been found out?"

He nearly started when a broad, warm hand pushed the hair out of his face and he looked up to see Optimus giving him a gentle smile. "You're not in trouble. Ratchet did say that he would have preferred that you would tell him when you took it."

Bumblebee leaned against Optimus's hand, letting the contact comfort him as he looked back to the sunrise. "It was still early. I didn't want to disturb him."

Silence fell over them, broken only by a slight rustle of clothing as Bumblebee moved over to let Optimus sit beside him. The blond curled up to his leader's side and Optimus made no protest, even shifting so that he could soothe back the blond and black hair.

"What's you're opinion on the device?" Optimus asked, his voice low and soft.

"A little weird to get use to, but I no longer feel restricted. I won't feel helpless like I did when Barricade caught me off guard. It would definitely be a great asset for when more Decepticons reach this planet. Do you think we can coordinate with the humans on this?"

"It's a good possibility. We could probably speak with the Secretary of Defense and maybe Lennox about it."

The blond nodded and asked softly, "What do you think of it?"

"I like the concept and execution of it, but I have yet to see it in practice."

Bumblebee sat up at those words, looking at his leader in curiosity. "Would you like to see?"

"Why do you think I came out here?" Optimus leaned over, kissing the young warrior gently. He pulled away before they got too caught up and had to smile at the slightly dazed look on Bumblebee's face. "After all, you're one of two with the device and the only one available right now. And Ratchet did say that you make a good demonstrator for it."

"… Okay." Bumblebee slid off of the car and reached into the vehicle, pulling out the black, silver, and yellow contraption. He shook back his hair from his face and gave Optimus a smile when the older man held back Bumblebee's hair from his face and neck..

Carefully, the blond placed the device on his head and slid it back until the arced band rested on the back of his head, holding back his hair. Bumblebee shivered slightly as he felt his left cheek tingle, a noticeable sign on the device's activation. To complete it, Bumblebee moved a small lens to rest over his right eye and technical read outs began to scroll down one side.

Beside him, the Camaro rumbled to life and the blond smiled as Optimus leaned back against the semi, watching him walk to the obstacle course. Bumblebee started off with a light jog, the car easily keeping up with him and halfway there, he went into a full out run. The Camaro transformed to its bipedal form without missing a step and Bumblebee felt the beginnings of an adrenaline rush as the large mecha carefully scooped him up from the ground and continued to run to the fake town.

With the wind whipping his hair around his face and his mecha raising his cannon to aim at the first target without any conscious effort, the outside world fell away and left him with the excitement of a young child given a new toy.


	14. Recruit

"The ones you see before you are your new allies against a threat that can destroy this very galaxy!"

Ratchet stood by Ironhide, leaning back against the black Topkick while his vehicle sat idly next to it, eying the humans standing in front of the line of Autobots. Each side studying everyone with a look of skepticism. He recognized only three men from the army; Epps, Figueroa, who was introduced to the Autobots earlier, and Lennox who was speaking to the rest of the humans. Among them was a mixture of military and police force. The group of police will be the ones to work along side the Autobots when the Decpticons attacked within cities while the army will come in if more power was needed.

"Excuse me, sir," one of the unknown military men said. "But a bunch of… _pretty boys_ don't look like much of a threat against a school gang, let alone something that can destroy the world."

Ironhide stiffened and Ratchet laid a hand on his arm as a warning, but he didn't need to as the small form Arcee stalked up to the man, leaving her bike by Sunstreaker's car. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"I'm sorry, miss, but all I see here are young men, a young woman, and a bunch of modified vehicles."

"Let me tell you this. I have seen more terrains than you can think of. I have battled on more planets than you can name. I have fought more enemies than this world has countries. I have seen my comrades turn against each other, have their limbs torn from their bodies, their vocals crushed, and their very Sparks extinguished. What have you done? Go through a training program and fought make believe foes? Don't test me, fleshling!"

As she walked away, one of the other men snickered, muttering "You got shown by a girl!" to his comrade. The only people that would have been able to hear him were the ones around him, but Arcee's eyes glowed blue and she whirled around and nearly ran back to the one that spoke to punch him.

"Arcee!"

The young woman froze and all eyes looked to the blue and red haired man that spoke in such a commanding tone. Optimus stood from his relaxed slouch by Bumblebee, taking a few steps forward. Arcee stood at attention and even some of the humans that didn't know him straightened as he looked over them.

"Stand down, Arcee."

"Yes sir."

Optimus continued forward as Arcee returned to Sunstreaker's side and Ratchet watched as his leader appeared to go from a young man to a commander. In his biodriod form, he didn't have the scars that marked his experiences, but the burden of the fights still appeared to weigh on him.

"I am Optimus Prime. I lead the Autobots. Right now, we are spread across the stars and those you see here are the ones that have been able to come to this planet. I shall introduce you to them.

"Jazz, head of special operations. Prowl, head of tactics and security. Ironhide, weapons specialist. Wheeljack, scientist. Ratchet, medic. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, warriors. Bumblebee and Arcee, scouting and espionage."

Each one took a step forward when their name was mentioned.

"Jazz, Prowl, Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, and Arcee will be the main force while inside a city. Ironhide and I will come in when it's confirmed that no humans will be put in danger by excessive force and firepower. Ratchet will not be on the front lines unless it's a last resort and Wheeljack's experiments will probably be used only when there are no humans around since they tend to be unpredictable."

"Oi!" Everyone turned to the red-head scientist who looked at Optimus with indignity. "My creations are not that volatile!"

"The cities that the humans live in are very enclosed. It'll be safer if your works are not used in the cities."

"Permission to speak sir?"

Optimus blinked and turned back around to look at the humans. The person that spoke up was a young man, almost looking younger than Bumblebee. He glanced over to Lennox and when he nodded, Optimus said, "Speak freely."

"You don't look any different from the rest of us except for maybe the strange hair. Why is it that you refer to the rest of us as humans?"

"What makes us different are the vehicles you see behind us. These human forms are ones that we adapted shortly after we came to earth." The flame covered semi began to hum with power and the eyes of the humans widened in surprise and awe as metal began to shift, almost fluidly. The ground shook slightly as Optimus's true body took a step forward. "This is our armor, our weapons, our body. This is what makes us different from humans."

"Those of you here are seeing this by permission of the Secretary of Defense," Lennox said, taking a step forward to stand by Optimus. "He chose you out of a large group of candidates. Your skills and work record were all brought into consideration. With that in mind, we will now proceed with a demonstration."

"Ratchet, Bumblebee. You're up."

The medic glanced over at the smaller Autobot and nodded, stepping away from Ironhide and over to his vehicle, pulling out an odd device decorated in red and white. Ratchet jumped slightly when gentle hands held back his hair but he smiled in thanks as he connected the device just behind his ears. Shivering as twin marks of white and red appeared across his cheeks, he began to walk out into the desert, Bumblebee following.

"Ready Bee?" Ratchet asked in a normal voice.

"Anytime you are!" was the reply in his ear, despite the warrior being a bit of a ways off.

He paused at his spot and the ground rumbled as his vehicle came up behind him. Almost mirror to him, Bumblebee and his vehicle took on the same fighting stance and stood at ready.

"This is going to be fun!" Bumblebee said before one large foot shifted and then ran for Ratchet.

"I'll be sure to go easy on you," he said, sending his own mech forward. After all, he really didn't feel like repairing the damages he might inflict.

**oOo**

Ratchet sat a part down on the table, wincing as the noise it produced made his head throbbed even more. The earlier demonstration to the humans worked out perfectly, showing them that the threat against the Earth was real and that they did have the power to stop it. What he didn't expect was to be so sore after the fight.

Bumblebee didn't use any weapons against Ratchet, both mech and biodriod form, but that didn't stop the damage. Both of them had walked away from the demonstration with scratched paint, slightly crumpled armor, and bruised skin.

"Bumblebee can hit pretty hard," a voice said.

Ratchet jumped and whirled around, adrenaline pumping through him against his will. Ironhide caught the half pulled punch, easily pushing the fist down and stepping up closer to the medic. Callused fingers touched the bruise forming under one eye and Ratchet felt himself blushing at the touch.

"I wasn't expecting for him to come up so close while our mech forms fought. His training with the headset has proven most valuable. I'm glad he records everything he does for our research. Otherwise, we might—"

His words had stopped abruptly when the weapon specialist had leaned in closer, kissing him gently. Those lips moved to the bruise, brushing against the tender skin before moving away all together.

"Go take a shower, Ratchet," Ironhide said, pushing him towards the shower room. "It'll help you relax."

The medic caught a look of surprise on Ironhide's face as he caught his hand, pulling him along. "Come with me?"

"B-but I'm not dirty!"

"So? It'll help me relax."

**oOo**

Bumblebee winced as the cold pack was pressed against his slightly swollen cheek bone, having to hide a smile as Optimus also winced from the action. Ratchet gave as good as he got and Bumblebee's injuries were nearly a mirror of the medic's.

"Why don't you go to Ratchet for this?" Optimus asked, taking hold of the blond's hands and inspecting the bruised knuckles.

"I injured him just as bad. Besides, the only way Jazz and I got him to participate was that I wouldn't go to him for repair. I'll heal up just fine and I can repair the armor at the same time. It's nothing permanent."

"Are you sure that it's not that bad?" The ice pack moved away and Bumblebee held still as the bruise was traced by his leader's fingers.

The blond hissed and Optimus leaned in, worried that something had happened, and Bumblebee used that opportunity to kiss the man. When he leaned back, there was a look of surprise on Optimus's face.

"Besides, I don't get the chance to have you take care of me often."

Optimus smiled for probably the first time since the earlier demonstration, the look of worry fading away. "You want me to take care of you?"

"That's all I want right now."

"I think that can be arranged."

**oOo**

Hopefully things will start to escalate. And I don't care what the book/movie says, I like Figueroa so he gets to stay alive in my stories. 'Sides, the movie doesn't really confirm him dead...


	15. Torn

Author's Note: I'll be hiding in my dorm room now.**  
**

**oOo**

Bumblebee looked at the CD in his hand with a slight frown, bright blue eyes looking down the list of songs. A quick scan through the list along with the title showed that it wasn't the CD he was searching for but one released for younger kids that had no true grasp on what was being sung.

Hands suddenly covered his eyes and he stiffened slightly, placing the CD back in the display stand. "Nice to see you too, Arcee. What do you want now?"

"You're no fun," she said, removing her hands and smiling as the blond turned to look at her. Before he was able to say anything, she dragged him out of the electronics store to a store a few spaces away where Sunstreaker was picking through the clothing in his arms.

"Ah! Good! Bee, these are for you to try on," he said, shoving the clothing into Bumblebee's hands and smiling as he watched the smaller blond being herded into the changing rooms near the back of the store.

The area was silent before the next few minutes while Bumblebee changed and the two others were surprised that they didn't hear any protesting at the clothing. At one point in time, Arcee actually snuck back into the changing area and came back with Bumblebee's jeans and shirt draped over her arm.

"Why am I wearing this?" he asked, walking out of the changing rooms.

"And I was gonna bet that you wouldn't do this," Sunstreaker said, grinning and shaking his head.

"But the colors work so well for him!" Arcee replied, eying her comrade.

Bumblebee wore a sleeveless turtle neck, the cloth effectively covering the circuitry on his neck, the shirt the same sky blue color of Bumblebee's eyes. He kept on the black armwarmers and the skirt that pleated about mid-thigh and stopped right above his knees matched the same hue of the armwarmers.

The outfit, finished off with the black tennis shoes and the loose black and blond hair barely brushing his shoulders made him look—

"Cute!"

Bumblebee placed his hands on his hips, giving the girl a disbelieving look. "Where did you get the idea for this?"

"The internet?"

That seemed to be the favorite reply of the twins, Arcee, and Wheeljack ever since they got to earth. "You've been told not to believe everything you see there, right?"

"Meh!" Arcee shoved the shirt and jeans at Sunstreaker and darted up to Bumblebee and pulled off the tags of the shirt and skirt and dancing away from the blond and to the cash register to pay for the clothes.

"I'm stuck like this, aren't I?"

"Until you at least get back to base."

"You're going to regret this."

"Why me and not Arcee?"

"Because she's paying for the clothes and its kind of expected of girls."

Both of them froze when a girl that worked at the store came up to them, smiling at Bumblebee. "Your friend chose good colors for you miss."

He lowered his eyes and spoke in a voice soft enough to cover his masculinity, "She said that I needed something nice to wear when I see my boyfriend next."

"He'll be sure to love it."

Sunstreaker began coughing to hide his sudden snickering and Bumblebee purposely stepped on his foot, hard, as he walked to where Arcee was waiting for them. Bumblebee laced his arms with Arcee and walked out of the store, Sunstreaker following behind.

_oOo_

Bumblebee sighed softly as he rested against the hood of his vehicle, still waiting for the other two warriors to come around in Sunstreaker's vehicle. The vain Autobot had a different form for at least every day of the week and he would sometimes change it on a whim.

"You waiting for the wimp that drives this thing, baby?"

Sky blue eyes looked up in exasperation. Apparently being flat chested wasn't enough to deter hormonally challenged human boys. "I'm waiting for my friends, and I'm the wimp that drives this, weaklings."

Bumblebee smirked as the rest of the guys in the car beside him laughed at the one that spoke up. "You need a real man to handle that."

"I don't see one anywhere around here, but I do have one at home. Besides, a powerful machine requires a delicate touch." One hand barely touched the metal of the hood and the Camaro rumbled to life. Bumblebee looked to the road behind the humans annoying him and noticed Arcee and Sunstreaker waiting in the traffic so he moved back and got into his vehicle, pulling out smoothly as the traffic shifted.

It took him a while but he finally got the "driving like a human" down and appeared normal to the rest of the world, and he was thankful for that because after he left the city, the same car with the human males showed up beside him, trying to pass. Bumblebee smirked and went faster, easily going out of reach. It amused him to see Sunstreaker pass the same boys but that amusement was short lived when he saw a dark car with a strip of lights on the top following them closely.

"Oh Primus…" Bumblebee muttered, reaching into the back seat and pulling out the headset made for him. It was slightly difficult to put it on, but the moment he fully connected to his vehicle and the small eye piece snapped down, he knew that they were in trouble.

"Snstreaker move right!" he yelled, taking over the Autobot's speakers remotely even as the vehicle under him transformed.

The reaction was immediate and Bumblebee was glad that no one was around. Barricade immediately turned into his bipedal form and barreled into the large mech, the biodriod body landing with a jarring roll. He was to focused on the fight with Barricade that he barely ducked in time to miss Frenzy launching itself at his head.

The small, wiry bot missed his head but the hand latched onto his right arm and Bumblebee could feel the skin and cloth there tear, the appendage going numb as blood began to run over the exposed circuitry. Something in the back of his mind told him that it wasn't supposed to feel that way. That water on the circuitry never made things strangely numb.

An electric shock ran through him, bringing him to his knees and something jerked the headset off. Bumblebee gasped as the once felt band of tightness settled over his shoulders and neck and he could feel the pricks and tears of Frenzy's hands on his skin. Just as everything started to go gray, those cold, sharp hands left him and Bumblebee blinked as a pair of bright blue eyes looked down at him.

"Opti…"

"You're stuck with me, Bee," said a worried Arcee, smoothing blond hair back. "You're headset is broken."

"Sun…"

"Is fighting the 'Con. That little metal slag that attacked you is running to them but I don't think he'll last long. He looks ready to collapse at the next hard hit. Sunny is doing pretty well on his own though."

"This isn't right," Bumblebee whispered.

Blue eyes snapped back to his face. "Oh no you don't! Bee! Stay with me! You need to stay awake! Wake up Bee! Bumblebee!"

_oOo_

Optimus ran his fingers through his red and blue hair, refusing the urge to just go into the room he was sitting in front of and demand what was going on. The moment he saw the human Ratchet stepping out of the back of the emergency vehicle with a torn and bloody Bumblebee on a gurney followed by Ironhide and Sunstreaker carefully carrying the unmoving mech of Bumblebee, he felt lost and ready to find the one that damaged his Bumblebee and render them to pieces. It didn't help that Ratchet shut the doors in his face and said that Optimus was not to go in no matter what sound came out.

The doors soon creaked open and Optimus shot to his feet. The medic took a step back from the look his leader was giving him, reaching up to let his hair fall from the pinned up style he had it in.

"Don't look like your goldfish just died!"

The absurdity of that statement made Optimus pause. "Goldfish?"

"It's a human phrase. Bumblebee is just fine. His armor took a lot of hits and that can be easily fixed. His biodriod body is in a worse state, but the skin is healing and the blood has been replenished and all we can do now is wait for him to wake up. You can take him wherever you feel he might be comfortable."

Optimus moved past Ratchet and into the medical lab, looked down at Bumblebee with worry. The torn and bloody shirt and armwarmers he wore during the fight were now in the trash and a voice in the back of his mind said that Bumblebee was going to miss those armwarmers when he woke up but he dismissed that thought.

There were no bandages on the arm that Optimus was so sure that he only saw circuitry of earlier, just skin with the random bits of wire and metal showing, the tone a few shades off from Bumblebee's normal skin. A few scratches adorned his face and the leader knew that there wouldn't even be scars left once they were healed. Bumblebee's biodriod body will go back to looking like a normal young man.

As if he was handling the warrior's very own Spark, Optimus picked Bumblebee up and walked out of the room and down the corridor, waiting for the door to his room to recognize him and let him in. The room was large enough to house the semi's recharge berth, a bed for the biodroid body, and a human sized desk, but there was nothing else to trip over or decorate the place so Optimus didn't bother with turning on the lights before moving further in and laying the blond down on the bed.

Pulling a chair over from the desk, Optimus settled himself down for a long day and night.

_oOo_

A persistent alarm in the back of Optimus's mind woke him up from whatever sleep he was lulled into and it took a moment for his mind to decide that yes, he was in his human body, and no, not everything is all right.

A stifled whimper drew his attention to the form on the bed and he moved quicker than he thought possible. The pained gasps and whimpers tore through Optimus and he knew that there was nothing that he can do. Instead he reached forward, his hand shaking slightly.

"Bumblebee? Bumblebee! C'mon! Wake up Bumblebee!" Optimus gently lifted the young man up to lean against him, brushing blond hair away from the thin face. "Please wake up…"

"Optimus!" Ratchet skidded into the dark room, his eyes glowing a soft blue. "Get him to a secure place now and stay with him! Make sure that he is cut off from his vehicle. His consciousness may be in his biodroid body, but he probably will feel everything that I do unless all access is shut down."

Optimus nodded once as he picked Bumblebee off of the bed and raced down the hall way, one destination in mind. A bit of relief filled him as he saw the large semi and he opened the door, climbing in carefully with his lover in his arms. After a moment of thought, he laid down on the long seat, Bumblebee lying on top of him with his ear pressed to his chest. Crystal blue eyes closed in concentration and power hummed all around him as his signal blocker came online, effectively isolating them from the outside world.

In his arms, Bumblebee shuttered and then laid still. Optimus feared that he died, despite Ratchet's words that he wouldn't, but the gentle breathing reassured him for the time being.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, his eyes staring at the ceiling of the semi cab while one hair soothed back the blond and black hair. After a while, the passenger door opened and Optimus tilted his head to see who it was and he was only vaguely at ease when he saw Ratchet standing there.

"What's going on?"

"A type of virus," Ratchet answered, reaching over enough touch Bumblebee's cheek. That one touch can catalogue many things from body temperature to blood oxygen levels for the medic. "I'm not sure if it originated from the biodriod or the mech, but it started to affect his consciousness after it fully transferred to the mech. If it went any further, I'm not sure what would have happened."

He stopped talking when Bumblebee shifted and the blond murmured, "It hurts."

"I know," Optimus said, leaning down far enough to press a kiss against the small one's hair. "I know it hurts but please hang in there. You're going to be fine soon."

"I'm going to leave you two alone, but keep him isolated until I give the all clear."

"Thank you Ratchet."

The man smiled softly, brushing back the red bangs of his leader. "It's what I'm here for."

The door shut gently and Optimus settled himself down for another long wait.

_oOo_

Optimus woke up when a hand gently shook him and when he opened his eyes he saw Ratchet looking down at him.

"I need you two to come to the medic bay. The virus has been removed and there's no longer a threat to Bumblebee. Wake him up if you can."

Nodding slightly, Optimus got up slowly, carefully cradling Bumblebee in his arms as he got out of the semi and felt the tension leave his body as the vehicle powered down from the night long session. The walk to Ratchet's work area didn't seem that long and halfway down the hall, bright, nearly glowing blue eyes opened slightly only to widen a bit more and take in the surroundings.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" Optimus asked softly.

"No…"

The leader nodded and left it at that as he walked into the large room of Ratchet, barely glancing over to the mech that laid in a recharge berth with diagnostic tools running various tests still hooked up.

"Set him down on the table."

Optimus complied and moved back as Ratchet came up began to do various tests on the human like body.

"Do you feel any pain, pressure, or discomfort anywhere?"

"No sir."

"State your name."

Optimus refused to roll his eyes at that question. It was impossible for one of them to forget their name, but it was standard for a medic to ask after a being went through a period of traumatic experience. He was about to walk out, leave long enough to get his mech to its own recharge berth but froze at the soft words that filled the air.

"I don't know that, sir."


	16. Mend

"_State your name."_

_Optimus refused to roll his eyes at that question. It was impossible for one of them to forget their name, but it was standard for a medic to ask after a being went through a period of traumatic experience. He was about to walk out, leave long enough to get his mech to his own recharge berth but froze at the soft words that filled the air._

"_I don't know that, sir."_

**oOo**

Ratchet looked up when the door to his area opened and he wasn't really that surprised to see Prowl standing at the entrance, staring at the large form of Bumblebee's mech laying in a recharge berth with diagnostic tools still hooked up to him. He walked in, his iridescent eyes never really leaving the mech's form, but he finally sat down near Ratchet, his disbelief and worry showing through.

"I take it that you've discovered?"

Prowl nodded. "Yea."

"Where's Jazz?"

"Talking with him about what was on TV." The strange eyes shifted over to Ratchet and the medic leaned back against his work table, arms crossed over his chest, and waited for the question. "What happened to Bumblebee?"

"It's partially the virus I extracted from him and partially the sudden disconnection of his headset. Bumblebee's memories are in his vehicle but since he was mostly in control of the biodroid body at the time of the incident, his consciousness and personality are in the biodroid. The full connection was torn, but the base connection is still there. His true body is essentially in a coma while his biodroid has amnesia."

"Primus…" Prowl breathed. "Is he going to..?"

"He's going to recover. Right now, all he has is knowledge that he can download from the internet since these bodies have their own type of wireless. He recognized me as a type of doctor. He recognized some of the earth made tools, but anything of Cybertron origins didn't click. The only thing that can make him whole again is time and his self repair. It would have been fixed quicker, but that virus planted into him slowed it down drastically."

"How is Optimus taking it?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to try to tell him again once he sleeps off of the sedatives."

"…You drugged our leader."

"I wasn't sure if he was going to shred the first thing he would get his hands on or completely break down. Either way, Bumblebee's heart rate and temperature was starting to rise. I decided it best that he should get some rest. Luckily, his vehicle is too low on energy for him to do anything."

"And what if something happens while he's asleep?"

"That's what you, Jazz, and Ironhide are here for. Go back and talk to Bumblebee for a while. Try to explain to him that things will get better. I don't think he fully accepts what I say."

"All right. Thanks for explaining it, Ratchet. It must be tough."

"Honestly, this is less stressful than when I have to fix up the twins."

**oOo**

Optimus sighed and rubbed his eyes, the last lingering affects of the tranquilizer wearing off at last. He didn't like the fact that Ratchet had used it on him without question or hesitation, but he could understand the reason after Ratchet explained it to him when he woke up. The medic's new rules were still echoing in his head.

_Talk to him if he approaches you or invites you. Do not tell him of what he is. If he finds out, he might try to stop the connection from forming or force it and that will only make things worse._

Stubbornly pushing the problem out of his mind, Optimus sat down at a computer console in the command center, pulling up reports of various places that he knew had Decepticon activity. Most of the Decepticons that were out on the earth were drones, sent only for observation and spy jobs, but one of them could decide to come out in the open and begin to fire on the humans.

The only thing that came up was a report by four young males who said they saw a fight break out between two large robots and a human getting injured, but he dismissed that. He already knew of Bumblebee's fight with Barricade the day before and he didn't want to dwell on that either.

He nearly jumped as arms circled his shoulders suddenly and he reached up to touch the yellow yarn of the blanket covering the arms. Optimus turned his head, barely seeing blond and black hair mixing with his own blue and red locks and the young face that it framed.

"This feels right," a soft tenor said, the arms tightening minutely. "This is where I'm supposed to be." One hand left the cover of the blanket and Bumblebee gently laced his fingers with that of Optimus. "I'm sorry that I've forgotten us."

**oOo**

Bumblebee blinked sleepily, his mind still oddly blank but things were slowly coming back. He began to remember things shortly after leaving Ratchet's lab. That there was a war going on, that he was a warrior, that he loved the one with red and blue. It was like the door to everything that he was stood before him, but the key to access it had yet to be created and all he could do was look through a tiny window.

He tried to keep his eyes open but the hand that soothed back his hair wasn't helping. His head was pillowed on Optimus's thigh, the warm metal of a flame painted semi humming slightly under him. He had to smile at how long it took to convince the man to come with him. Bumblebee might not remember everything, but he knew what it felt like to be near the comforting hum of the semi.

"You remember?" Optimus asked slowly.

"Yes. No. I'm not sure. I can place a name with a face... I know that this isn't your true form and this isn't mine. We're not from this planet. We're not even from this solar system. Why is it taking so long for things to connect?"

"It's only been a few hours. You just need to be patient."

"I think I'm going to go to sleep, sir."

"Go ahead. You're safe here."

They stayed like that for a long while, Bumblebee drifting in and out of sleep with Optimus always by him, calming him from whatever dream he would have. At one point in time, he remembered Optimus taking him to lie down on a bed, murmuring something about a "mission" before leaving him in the dark room. Bumblebee didn't think much of it, just curling up in the blankets and surrounding himself in the scent of his lover.

**oOo**

…"_Are you okay?" the deep voice rumbled softly as large hands surrounded him protectively…_

…"_Why do you think I came out here?" Crystal blue eyes glowed with warmth as lips gently caught his, the softness of the kiss melting him..._

…_warm, broad hands gently held his waist and cool metal of the semi touched his back, the body heat of the taller man permeating his form, making him ache for more…_

…"_Rest assured," a sinister voice hissed as pressure on his neck began to tighten, "though, of this small pyrrhic victory of yours, no words…" the pressure turned painful, the sound of screeching metal filling his ears, "…shall __**ever**__ be uttered!"_

Bumblebee jerked awake, one hand going to his throat as if to make sure that there was no damage as the strangeness of his dreams left him confused for a moment before his mind settled down, placing the images in the back before quickly disappearing. His internal sense of time told him that is was only an hour or so after Optimus left him in the room but he no longer felt tired, wanting to get up and move around, maybe even leave the building if he could. Bumblebee got up and left the room, walking to where he sat with Optimus on the semi earlier but found Ratchet disconnecting a few wires between a computer console and a yellow Camaro instead.

"I figured that you would be coming in here right about now."

Bumblebee blinked at the words, wondering how Ratchet knew it was him without even turning around. The blond walked up to Ratchet as the medic studied the car for a few minutes before turning his full attention on him.

"I suspect that you want to leave?"

"You'll let me?"

"You have knowledge how to drive and this one does belong to you. As long as you stay out of trouble, I see no reason why not."

"Thank you sir!" Smiling, Bumblebee got into the car but stopped as a problem presented itself. "I need the keys."

"You just have to want it to be on."

"Want it?

No sooner had the words left him did the car rumble to life, strange sensations suddenly filling his mind. Carefully, he took the car down a long corridor and smiled as the surrounding metal fell away to reveal trees and sunlight. It felt strange to be outside the building, the only place Bumblebee remembered being in, but it was also relaxing. He felt like he was stretching his legs, letting himself go, even though he was only driving.

Bumblebee had to slow down once he got near the city and for a moment he thought he would get lost. Something shivered in the back of his mind and Bumblebee felt himself relax even further, his eyes nearly closing as he began to pass signs marking exits off of the highway.

Five point three miles turn left… seven point nine miles right exit… nine point two miles right exit… turn left in three streets… an immediate left turn… stop.

When he looked up, the car was resting near a peaceful park, a large mall on the other side of it. Slightly confused but with nothing else to do, Bumblebee got out of the car and walked to the mall, the hustle of the life attracting him.

He stepped through the large doors and paused and bright lights and loud sounds assaulting him but he could find any part of him that disliked it. He wandered around for a while, looking at things and watched the interaction of the humans while smiling. He didn't want food, not feeling hungry for anything, but a small floor display caught his eyes. The objects glittered in the bright fluorescent lights and were pretty, but one, only one had blue, one that was…

… _the same shade of blue as his eyes, a bit brighter than the blue of his hair…_

Shaking his head free of the sudden memory, Bumblebee picked it up, only to nearly drop it as a young woman came up beside him suddenly.

"That's a good choice, sir. Who is it for?"

"For the one I love," he answered. "Can this be modified?"

"To any colors and size you want, sir."

"Do you take credit card?"

**oOo**

Bumblebee sat on a bench in the park, the yellow Camaro sitting directly in front of him, only separated by fifty feet of grass and a few people, as he turned the small package in his hands. He didn't know what prompted him to buy it… Primus, he didn't even know if the other man would like it, but he wanted to give it to him in hope that he would accept it.

"You look lost."

Startled, Bumblebee jerked up, blinking in surprise at the young face that peered up at him. "I guess I kinda am. Are you?"

"No," the young girl said, turning to wave at a woman a short way off. "Mama's sitting over there. She takes me here to play whenever she can. Do you want us to help you find your mama?"

"I don't have one."

"Everyone has a mama."

"Then I must have forgotten mine."

"What about the rest of your family?"

"I'm not sure. I do have brothers though. And a sister. We live together somewhere out of the city." He blinked as a small flower was thrusted into his face and carefully took it from the tiny fist. "Thank you."

"Can you lean down?"

Blinking in confusion, Bumblebee did as he asked and the girl kissed him quickly on the cheek before running off to her mother, giggling the entire way. He waved at them, smiling, but he didn't see them wave back as something in his mind _clicked_ and static seemed to fill his head before words started to echo. Unnoticed to him, the small black box he had tumbled to the ground.

"_**The drones are heading east along twenty-eighth street!"**_

"_Arcee! Ironhide! You two follow them! Take them out of commission now!"_

"_Slag it Prime! We're swamped over here as it is!"_

"_**Arcee only has the packets with the strongest charge left. You and Sideswipe go! That area is crawling with civilians and your charges won't hurt them if they should happen to get hit."**_

"_**What's over there to have so many humans?"**_

"_**The mall and park, Sides."**_

Bumblebee stiffened, his eyes searching wildly around him. Nothing seemed out of order but the sense of urgency didn't leave him. There were only a few people in the park, leaving now that the lunch hour was nearly over. Instead, he turned and ran over to where the woman and the small girl sat on a blanket, gently grabbing the older female's shoulder.

"Ma'am, you and your daughter need to leave here now. Something horrible is coming and I don't want you two to get hurt!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Please! Just get up and leave now! Head any direction except for west!"

The woman was about to respond but an explosion cut her off, the ground shuddering from the force of it. Without another word, Bumblebee picked up the small girl and grabbed the mother's wrist, pulling them to the yellow car. The ground shuddered against and Bumblebee looked back, watching as large chunk of building tore off near by and fell to the park area.

"Primus no…"

The girl screamed and Bumblebee pushed the mother to the ground and covered the both of them with his body. Something shifted near by in a whirl of clicks and stutters and the blond felt something _click_ in his mind again before a hard hit against his shoulder made him stagger.

For a moment, nothing happened, and then he leaned back, feeling a double sense of balance that fought the other and he saw everything around him in a double vision. Something clawed at the back of his leg and he swung his arm, knocking the thing aside before turning to look.

A large, human size machine sparked in the grass, its skeletal structure broken in a few places and creating even more sparks. Bumblebee turned back to the woman and child, picking up the body of a blond human in his hands carefully.

"Run. Leave this place now."

The woman nodded and picked up her daughter, running to the closest building and Bumblebee turned back to the directions of the explosions, transferring the body to his left hand as his right arm shifted to a cannon, the inside of the muzzle glowing blue with power.

He froze as a swarm of more skeletal robots appeared, not knowing what to do. The cannon can do more damage to the area around him than to the robots and within the next instant he was glad he didn't fire. A small human in blue darted out from behind a building, firing a weapon that was braced against his arm and a red mech followed him, picking up the smaller robots and crushing them in his hands.

Bumblebee crushed the few small robots that reached him with his feet and he leaned down, handing the motionless body to Optimus.

"You're back!" Optimus said, his eyes lighting up.

"I guess I am." He looked up as Sideswipe came up next to them. "What's going on?"

"Sudden invasion of human sized Frenzys? We're not sure. We were notified that a few of them were walking around but we see any until a short while ago."

"Who all's here?"

"Ironhide, Arcee, and Optimus are in our biodroids. The rest of us are here in our original bodies," Sideswiped answered. "Thanks to Wheeljack's EMP guns, our smaller selves don't have to worry about being defenseless, though you could have used it yesterday, couldn't you? Nice to see you back."

"Glad to be back." Bumblebee shivered for a moment before his mech reverted back to his vehicle form and he blinked his eyes, staring at Optimus from a new angle. "You don't have to carry me anymore."

Blushing, Optimus sat him back on his feet, muttering a quick apology. Bumblebee smiled and held Optimus's hand in his, watching as the others came up to the park, though they were now in there vehicle modes. Arcee slid from Sunstreaker's hood and ran to them. Bumblebee caught her with one arm, enduring the tackling hug with a laugh.

"Was I really that different without my memories?"

"Everyone was so worried about ya and we felt like we were walkin' on eggshells with Ratchet's rules and all," Jazz answered, pulling up.

"What's this?"

Bumblebee looked up as Ironhide paused by the bench he was sitting at earlier, picking something up from the ground. The blond yelped and let go of the femme and Optimus's hand in favor of running over and grabbing the small box from the weapon specialist's hands.

"Everything seems okay let's get going!" Bumblebee smiled as he quickly walked over to the Camaro and climbing inside.

"Prowl, 'Hide, and I are going to patrol some more just in case there are still some stragglers around."

Ironhide nodded, scowling slightly at Bumblebee before getting into Prowl's vehicle. Arcee grinned at the antics before she climbed into Sunstreaker, the two of them along with Sideswipe and Wheeljack leaving the area.

The blond's bright smile softened as Optimus sat down in his passenger seat, disconnecting the EMP gun from the circuitry of his right arm and leaning back to set it in the back seat. Bumblebee pulled out of the park and followed his comrades back towards the base.

"You have a flower in your hair," Optimus said, leaning over to pull the plant from the blond strands before handing it Bumblebee.

The younger Autobot took it, twirling it in his fingers. "I thought I lost that." He stared at the blue blossom before turning back to Optimus, holding out the hand that clutched the tiny black box. "This is for you."

The leader took it and opened it carefully, his eyes widening slightly. "Bee…" he breathed.

Bumblebee kept his eyes on the road, his hands on the steering wheel, and refused to watch as Optimus looked at the silver ring with a bright blue stone set into the metal, two lighter blue stones on either side of it. The color of Optimus's and Bumblebee's eyes.

"I didn't have my memories when I bought it but I still wanted to get it for you and I hope it's the right size since I don't know what size ring you wear but if you don't want it I can understand and I can always—"

His long tirade was cut off when the older man pulled him close and kissed him, the cool metal of the ring now adoring Optimus's left ring finger brushing up against his skin. Bumblebee let the back of his mind take over the driving in favor of leaning into the kiss, letting a content purr work up from his throat.

"Do you like it?" Bumblebee asked as the kiss broke, his sky blue eyes slightly glazed.

"That's one way to put it," Optimus murmured before leaning forward again for another kiss.

The rest of the drive was a haze for Bumblebee, only a small part of his mind noticing when the other four of their group pulled off in a different direction towards their own house. He continued on to the large base and pulled to a stop in the front hanger.

Optimus said something about going to the medic bay to see if Ratchet was done with some minor repair work on the semi as they got out of the car, only to be stopped by the medic himself as he rushed out of the communications room. Bumblebee didn't pay much attention to them, the words of their conversation too low for him to hear, but he froze as Optimus looked to him.

"I need you to contact the twins, Arcee, and Wheeljack."

"What happened?"

"Lennox called. Barricade broke into a laboratory and stole a few biodroid bodies. He can be walking around anywhere now."

_**oOo**_

Author's Note: I'm always iffy about this chapter. And with this post, I'm caught up to my dA posting and chapters might be coming at a more random pace.

"_Rest assured, though, of this small pyrrhic victory of yours, no words… shall ever be uttered!"_ - This is taken from the movie prequel comic, spoken by Megatron to Bumblebee. I just added the sensation parts.


	17. Rescue

_**::It's beautiful…::**__ a mech said, his transmission filled with awe as he gazed down at the blue and green planet. __**::And you say that it has more organic life than Cybertron?::**_

_**::More like vermin,::**__ his companion replied sullenly._

_**::What's that?::**_

_Cold optics turned to where the larger mech indicated and a grin appeared, the smaller mech aiming his weapon. __**::Vermin.::**_

_**::No! Don't! St-::**_

**oOo**

Optimus didn't know what brought him out of recharge. The base was silent and Bumblebee was a warm form against him, both in the recharge berth and the smaller bed their biodroids slept in. Ever since the virus incident, Bumblebee didn't feel comfortable enough with staying in his biodroid body for long periods of time, especially at night.

The yellow mech shifted before falling back into a deep recharge and Optimus couldn't help but caress the painted helm, the metal warm against his fingers, before easing out of the berth and slipping out of the room, leaving the door opened a crack.

His wanderings took him outside of the base, the cold air faintly chilling his chassis but otherwise not affecting him. Optimus looked up to the stars, his optics picking out constellations among the darkness before drifting unfocused. It's been over half a half of a year and only five others made it in to the new planet. He knew it would probably be longer for anyone else to show up, but that didn't make it any less lonely.

If it weren't for the strange bodies that the government gave to Ratchet, he would be afraid that the others' CPUs would have crashed…

A streak of fire across the sky caught the Autobot's leader's attention for a moment, heading north east before disappearing entirely and he thought back to the silly human superstition of wishing on falling stars. Stars can't fall.

His thoughts were interrupted when the back of his mind noticed the biodroid form of Bumblebee shifting in his arms. He reallocated a part of his mind to look upon his lover and was vaguely surprised to see sky blue eyes barely opened, the glow in them speaking of a connection to the warrior's mech form.

"Something's wrong." The words were merely a breath and spoken in the Cybertronian language, but it was loud enough for Optimus to take notice.

"_Optimus, sir."_

The transmission jolted the large mech back to his original body. "What is it, Prowl?"

"_There are reports coming in from the military and their space program on a sighting of another Cybertronian."_

"I'll be right in." The communication channel shut down after a moment and Optimus straightened from his slouch against the side of the base. If it had caught Prowl's attention, it had to be something important.

**oOo**

Barricade slowly opened his eyes, grimacing slightly as his mind wavered between his true body and the smaller, human like body he was recently connected to before settling on the smaller body. Strands of black hair fell over his maroon eyes and distracted for a moment but it only took a small movement to get it to fall back out of the way. It annoyed him how much this new, small body needed to stop for recharge or fuel, but the benefit of fitting in with the local life outweighed the annoyances.

Carefully, he got out of the makeshift bed near the vehicle form of his mech and walked over to the table where an inert Frenzy laid. Underneath it, on a pile of cushions, a pale teen male slept curled up, his spiky white hair falling in disarray around his face. Barricade picked up a small part and a welder, so focused on repairing the metal form of his partner that he didn't notice the uninvited guest until a shadow fell over his work table.

"And what are you doing here, human?"

Barricade quickly got over his shock and scowled, turning off the welder. "You've been gone for a long while, Starscream. While you weren't here, more Autobots have shown up and have practically taken over the area. Skorpinok has been missing and I've been stuck trying to fix Frenzy. Now, for the first time, I can do it properly. What have you been doing?"

"I went to find reinforcements. No one was close enough save for one, but he's no longer in commission… Barricade." Barricade thought he heard sorrow in Starscreams voice but dismissed it, focusing instead on how Seeker figured out why a Decepticon signal was coming from a human like body. The large Seeker kneeled down, pushing against the humanoid body with a metal claw. "And what's with this?"

"A new way to wreck destruction," the small form said with a smirk. "If you want, I think I can hook you up."

**oOo**

Bumblebee shivered as he stared out against the blinding whiteness around him, pulling the thick coat as close to him as he could. There wasn't this much whiteness when it snowed a long while back and his biodroid's eyes ached from the intensity of if. Behind him, a slightly taller figure came out of the building, gold eyes peering over the high collar of a coat just like Bumblebee's.

"It's different out here, isn't it?" Ratchet asked, pushing away long red strands of hair.

"Aren't we in danger of going into stasis out here? I mean our original forms."

"No. What happened to Megatron was different. He was thrown off course, probably by the Earth's gravitation field, and crash landed. The crash, along with the mixture of ice and water, and taking too long to come back online was what forced Megatron into stasis."

Both Autobots stopped in surprise when two forms darted past them, red and blond hair trailing behind them as they disappeared over a ridge.

"And we had to bring the terrible two along?" Bumblebee asked, giving Ratchet a suffered look.

Ratchet gave him a dark look back. "Blame your boyfriend. He's the one that wanted them along."

Bumblebee choked back on his laughter as Ratchet disappeared into the warm building. Carefully, he walked over to where the twins disappeared and looked down, watching them trying to form snowballs.

"Y'know, Ratchet will murder you if you come near him with that."

"No he won't!" Sideswipe said, not even bothering to look up.

"Besides, he doesn't have any of his tools to use for ammo," was Sunstreaker's response.

The young blond shook his head and went back inside, taking off his army issued snow camouflage coat to hang next to many identical ones before continuing on his way to the command center. The area wasn't really used as a strategic placement against possible enemies but was more of a training ground for new recruits in the army, both for terrain and technology.

The amount of things going on around Bumblebee nearly confused him, only the noticeable forms of his comrades anchoring his mind in the room. Ratchet was closest to him, pointing out something on computer screens and talking to people who looked older than him in a low, calm voice. Jazz was all the way across the room, his silver white dreadlocks easily seen despite the low light in his area, smiling and laughing as he talked to the communication staff. Lastly was their leader who was speaking with Lennox, questioning him about something on an electronically projected map. Their original forms sat in standby in a hanger close at hand, the Autobots taking enough time to unload them from the air transport they had taken from a base in America to the Arctic.

The six of them made up the team for the mission out in the ice to investigate the crash from another from Cybertron while the rest stayed back in Tranquility in case trouble began to appear in the form of Barricade and maybe his biodroid form.

Without anything else to do, Bumblebee skirted around a few busy people and up to Optimus, watching as the man pointed out a strange formation on the map. A strong hand gently caught his and Optimus gave him a brief smile before turning back to Lennox. Things went along those lines for a while, the room running in an organized chaos way, until Ratchet's voice rose above the noise, the sudden words making Bumblebee pull back slightly and press up against Optimus until his mind registered the threat.

"I have obtained Prime's permission before we left and I have a room full of witnesses to verify my warning," the medic growled. Behind him, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were frozen in their footsteps, round balls of snow in their gloved hands. Ratchet didn't even turn as he continued. "If I look at you two and see that you have _some_ form of dihydrogen monoxide in your hands and anywhere near me, I will knock you _both_ out and turn both of your forms into_femmes_ and let Arcee, Sarah, Maggie, and Mikaela dress you up in anything they choose. You have until the count of five. One…"

Both of the twins backed away until they judged themselves at a safe distance and ran for the outside again and Ratchet's shoulders relaxed as the door to the room clicked shut. The room was completely silent after that until Bumblebee heard Lennox mutter, "Kinda harsh threatening them with the girls. 'Specially with Arcee and Banes."

Soft laughter broke the tension and everyone went back to their jobs, though a few people did stiffen slightly as Ratchet walked behind them. The medic's grin showed that he noticed this but didn't say anything until he reached his commander.

"I believe that we've narrowed down the area that the distress signal is coming from but it's odd. It's Cybertronian in origin, but it's neither Autobot nor Decepticon."

"Neutrals still exist," Optimus answered, nodding slightly. "Lennox, how many of your men are trained for this weather type?"

"Most if not all. It's a sudden change from the desert, but we know what we're doing."

Optimus's eyes glowed a soft blue and Bumblebee could tell that he was accessing his true form, using the advanced technology in his body to calculate what would be needed, the distance they had to travel, and other variables of the trip. After a moment, Jazz jogged over to them and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe showed up, no snow in sight. The young blond gave Optimus's hand a gentle squeeze and got one in return as the older Autobot's consciousness returned to the biodroid body.

"Jazz, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe. I want you to be in your mechs when we leave, leave your biodroids here. Bumblebee and Ratchet, you two will be in both mech and biodroid, and I want the two of you to use your headset connectors. I will also come in both forms, but my mech will only be used as a last resort against enemies if we're attacked." Crystal blue eyes shift over to Lennox. "I want you to bring a medic, and three of your best men along with yourself. I don't know who or what is out there, but I would like to be prepared."

**oOo**

_He pressed his face against the small hands caressing it, the warmth in the metal digits soothing his Spark._

"_Why is it that you have to go? Can't they send someone else?"_

"_I wish I didn't have to, little one. I would rather stay here with you, but even I can't ignore a direct command from the council at Iacon."_

"_Don't call me 'little one'," his lover grumbled._

_Chuckling, the larger one leaned forward, touching his forehead to that of his beloved. "Please stay safe. For my sake?"_

"_I'd give you entire worlds if you ask."_

"_I don't want entire worlds. Just you."_

**oOo**

Optimus felt Lennox jerk beside him as two Lamborghinis raced a head of them, slamming on the brakes and sending the yellow and red cars into a mad spin only to straighten out after fishtailing on the snow and ice. The drive out to the crashed Cybertronian was a long one, at least an hour worth of driving by the Autobots' standards, and he wasn't surprised that someone started getting antsy.

"_Fraggit you two!"_ Ratchet's voice came over the speakers for all to hear. _"If you keep this up, you're going to make your humans sick! I will not help you clean out your interiors if that happens and I'll forbid anyone else to help!"_

"_C'mon, Hatchet!"_ came a voice that sounded like Sideswipe. _"They're enjoying this! They practically are us, right down to being twins!"_

"_Except in human form, of course,"_ was Sunstreaker's reply.

"_How is it that the army gets a set of twins in the same unit?"_ Bumblebee asked, genuinely curious.

"_The same way you guys probably did,"_ Epps answered from Jazz's vehicle.

"_And that is?"_ one of the said human twins asked.

"No one else wanted them," Lennox finished with a grin.

"_Oi!"_ The response was immediate and in sync from the Autobot and human twins and Optimus chuckled.

"_Heads up everyone!"_ Jazz announced. _"Crash site directly ahead!"_

All of the vehicles began to slow down, their snow ready wheels easily grabbing traction despite the conditions and Optimus rolled around to the far end of the very _large_ hole in the ground so that his vehicle could block the wind to a degree. Everyone got out of the vehicles and all of the Autobots except for Optimus and Ratchet converted to their bipedal forms.

"Are ya sure it's one bot and not five?" Jazz asked, peering into the crash site, his visor flashing slightly.

"Only one signal is coming from here…" Ratchet muttered, checking on his small computer screen. "Orders, sir?"

"I want Sideswipe and Jazz to go down. Ratchet, your biodroid form and Bumblebee's are to follow. Sunstreaker, you get to stay up here."

"What about us, sir?"

Optimus blinked as one of the soldiers stepped forward, eyes bright with eagerness. One of the twins if he remembered correctly. "You're under Captain Lennox's command."

The eyes turned to Lennox and Optimus could tell that Lennox wasn't expecting that. "Err… Jones and Jones, since you two came in the top of your class in rock climbing, you get to get these guys down there. Epps, you get to go along too. Medic Smith, you are to stay up here with the rest of us."

His four officers saluted him and began to get equipment ready. Jazz and Bumblebee watched the human twins with interest as they began to pull out harnesses and ropes and Epps grumbled about not wanting to scale down a huge wall of ice. With Optimus's permission, the rope was secured to the front bumper of the semi and harnesses were handed out to the humans. When they turned to get Bumblebee and Ratchet ready, they watched in amazement as Sideswipe and Jazz jumped into the hole, the smaller forms of the biodroids in their hands.

With smirks of amusement, the human twins disappeared over the edge followed shortly by Epps and the rest of them were left on the surface with only the sound of the wind to keep them company. It was silent for at least twenty minutes by Optimus's chrono before Ratchet's voice came from his speakers.

"By Primus's Spark…"

"What is it, Ratchet?"

"We've found him sir," Bumblebee said, the mech shifting to look down at the humans who were crowded by the semi. "And he's _huge_!"

Something in Bumblebee's chassis began to hum and a small hologram floated a few feet above the ground. Nothing seemed special about the mech it projected until Jazz stepped into the image. The Autobot was barely the size of one wing!

"_We're going to need a lot more equipment to get this guy out of here…"_ Sideswipe's voice echoed slightly from Ratchet's speakers.

**oOo**

Ratchet's optics narrowed as he focused even closer on the charred metal before him. The injury wasn't life threatening, but it was probably the reason why the mech had crash landed to begin with. Much like Megatron's case, the unfortunate being had crashed, gone offline, and never had a chance against the cold.

Luckily, the hanger that they brought the being to was warm and it helped with reawakening the self-repair system. After checking various cords and tubing, Ratchet hooked the mech up to a power source and waited for it to revive.

It didn't take long. Within the hour, blue optics flickered on and a pained groan echoed in the hanger. Ratchet got to his feet and to his patient's side, watching him carefully.

"I am the Chief Medical Officer Ratchet," he said slowly in his native language. "Do you feel any pain or discomfort anywhere?"

"No… sir." Ratchet gave him a dark look and the mech seemed to shrink in on himself. "Just my right wing. Kind of sore. Where am I?"

"You've reached the planet that the inhabitants call Earth. State you name."

"Skyfire."

"What is your side of the war?"

Optics flickered for a moment. "War? What war?"

**oOo**

Optimus felt the tension in his wires key up another notch despite the fact that Bumblebee stood behind, his silent support and comfort as he spoke with the large mech. He knew how it looked, explaining the war in a way that made the Autobots look like the saviors of the universe while the Decepticons were the ones trying to destroy it. Optimus explained everything that he could, how the war began, how the AllSpark was sent into space, how the AllSpark was destroyed…

Skyfire's side of the story that they got before explaining things was much simpler. He was a scientist sent to investigate a planetary system close to the current solar system to look for alternatives and substitutes for a possible energon shortage and he hasn't heard anything from Cyberton since he left.

Skyfire was silent through the Optimus's explanation, but eventually, quietly asked, "Which side is Starscream?"

The leader's vocals stuttered to a halt and he could only stare at Skyfire in surprise.

"He's on the Decepticon side," Bumblebee said, his vocals low. The yellow mech took a step forward and looked up at the large Seeker, the top of his head barely reaching the middle of Skyfire's chest despite the fact that Skyfire was sitting down and Bumblebee stood. "Don't let us choose a side for you, Sky. You decide your own life. Access the internet, investigate things, and make your own deductions. If you wish to speak with someone, you can contact me."

Skyfire nodded and Optimus watched as his young lover left the hanger, feeling anger building inside of him. After quietly excusing himself from Skyfire, who appeared deep in thought, Optimus followed and grabbed Bumblebee's arm, the sound of stressed metal reaching his audio receivers.

"You had no right to tell him that!" Optimus hissed and bright blue optics looked at him, glaring. "Skyfire could be a valuable asset to our team!"

"Skyfire is a neutral with a probable friend on the other side!" Bumblebee answered. "What would do you think Prowl would have done if he found out his bonded was on the other side and didn't choose who to fight for yet! What do you think I would have done!?"

Optimus jerked back as if stung and Bumblebee used that moment to turn to the icy wilderness, converting to his vehicle form at a run and tearing off. The leader didn't follow, too shocked to know what to do. It was a while before he went into a different hanger and converted to his vehicle mode and then transferred his consciousness to the biodroid that rested in the main building. The only one there was Bumblebee's biodroid, resting peacefully with no emotions showing on his face.

He looked up as Jazz walked in and the dark skinned man paused before smiling. "We were wonderin' when you were gonna wake up."

"Jazz?"

"Yea?"

"What would you have done if Prowl was a Decepticon and you had to choose sides as the war started?"

**oOo**

Bumblebee looked up as the door to the hanger opened and the tiny biodroid form of Optimus walked in, looking surprised to see the yellow mech talking calmly with Skyfire. The larger mech looked down on the small form, awe showing on his face plates, but Bumblebee felt an ache in his spark. He needed to remember that Optimus Prime was a soldier and a leader before he ever became a lover.

Warmth spread from the area where a small hand touched his leg as Optimus stopped before him. "I'm sorry, Bee," he murmured, his voice easily heard despite the size difference. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Bumblebee leaned forward and quickly picked his leader up, chuckling slightly when he heard a barely suppressed yelp escaping him. "I understand where you were coming from, sir, and I don't hold it against you. It was just… hard."

Optimus held out his arms slightly and Bumblebee brought him up to his face, peace spreading through him at the warmth of the small humanoid trying to hug him regardless of size.

"Fascinating…"

Optimus turned around and Bumblebee had to suppress his laughter as the blue haired man actually yelped, jumping back and pressing himself against Bumblebee. Skyfire had moved so that he could see the smaller biodroid easier.

"Is that really you, Optimus Prime sir?"

"Yes!" The leader's voice cracked before he cleared it to speak again. "Yes. This is a way for us to move around with the humans easier."

"Oh. Oh! Sir. I've decided to join your side. Bumblebee gave me the last bit of facts that convinced me and the humans sound utterly intriguing."

"Welcome to the Autobots, I guess," Optimus replied, still a bit shaken.

"…If you don't mind me asking, how did you become so tiny?"

The yellow mech actually started to laugh. "We'll have to get Ratchet to explain that to you. You can probably have one of your own too."

"Really?" Skyfire looked eagerly at him and Bumblebee grinned. The scientist seemed so eager for new things to explore.

**oOo**

Author's Note: Jones, Jones, and Smith probably won't be recurring characters except for random needs of human army people. Jones and Smith are just massively common last names.

I really hope this came out okay.


	18. Study

Ironhide stared at the form sitting in the grass shortly past the exit of the base. He knew about the new addition to the team, of a scientist who didn't even know of the war until they found him crashed into the ice of the Arctic. He had followed the Autobots back, first trailing the army transports and then the cars of the Autobots, and waited patiently to get his own biodroid body. The weapon specialist couldn't help but stare at the human like form of one of the largest Cybertonians he'd met.

Long silver-ish hair, streaked through with red and mostly held back by a thick braid, framed a sun kissed face and bright blue eyes that glowed continuously no matter what was going on. A look of awe flitted across his face as he touched a flower, watched the leaves on the tree move, looking in the direction of a bird chirping… But nothing could help Ironhide get over the fact that Skyfire was roughly the size of a twelve year old.

"Is it really that strange?"

Ironhide jumped as Ratchet spoke, coming up beside him but looking outside where Skyfire watched everything around him. The taller man looked back outside and shook his head.

"He just looks so young. I mean, I've been playing with Annabelle when Sarah and Will asks me, and she's even smaller than that. But for one of us to have a form that small…"

"It's what suits him," Ratchet murmured. "His true form may be large, but because of that, he would have to observe everything at a distance. With his biodroid, though, he can step right into things, watch it with only inches separating them, and even interact with human social behavior. I suspect that he can even control how old his biodroid looks too."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You've been around Will enough to know this. Despite all of us being much older than him by millennias, he treats Bumblebee and Arcee the same way he treats Sam and Mikaela. When he sees them in their true forms once again, it hits him that they truly are different from normal teens. If Skyfire were to go out in public, this form would get different reactions than that of a twenty year old."

"…How does Will treat the twins?"

"I suspect that he's taken our words of warning and tries to avoid them," Ratchet said dryly.

Both Autobots fell silent as the tiny form of the scientist stood up from his kneeling position and ran over to a nearby tree, the long braid trailing behind him like a flag. He stopped below the lowest branch of the tree but the limb was still three feet beyond his reach. The body stilled for a moment and steel gray eyes widened in shock as limbs grew, features matured, and the ill fitted large clothing now framed an older teen's body snuggly. The braid that fell past the child's waist now swung about mid-back on the young man as he reached up and easily grabbed the branch that was previously out of reach.

"Just as I thought."

"But how?"

The medic shrugged. "A combination of his larger form that can handle more processes than ours and the uniqueness of his biodroid? I honestly don't know."

They both fell silent again as Bumblebee drove out of the base, the blond stepping out of the Camaro and calling up to Skyfire in a voice that the other two couldn't hear. There was an exclamation of happiness and the scientist quickly appeared on the ground in a crouch, jumping directly from where he was in the tree. When he stood, he was in an appearance of a fifteen year old.

The passenger side door swung open and Bumblebee and Skyfire climbed in, the car starting off down the road towards the city.

"Why does it feel like it's about to get interesting?" Ironhide murmured as gold eyes looked to him.

**oOo**

Skyfire felt like he was in every scientists' dream. Bumblebee was near by, sitting on a park bench watching over him just in case something happened and Skyfire couldn't handle, but otherwise left him to his own devices, which now included a sketch pad and pencils. The sketch pad was beginning to fill up with drawings of wildlife and plant life that he could find in the city park, and people didn't bother him since he decided on the form of a fifteen year old. Old enough to wander around by himself, but young enough to probably still have some sort of guardian near by.

He was so engrossed with a butterfly he was following that he didn't notice where he was going until he bumped into someone and falling to the ground, his pencils and paper scattering across the ground.

"Butterflies and flowers?" a soft voice asked, picking up a few sheets.

Skyfire grabbed the paper away from the pale hand and quickly gathered up the rest of them. "I'm interested in wildlife."

"Wouldn't it be easier to look it up on the internet?"

The smaller male looked up, scowling at the aristocratic, nearly arrogant face that studied him almost coldly. "Easier, yes, but not as interesting."

Skyfire studied the man in front of him, something about him that made him different from everyone else. Silver white hair pulled back into a low ponytail, a thin streak of red arcing away from the temples, framed his face nicely and seemed to emphasize the strange red of his eyes. The scientist frowned slightly as he searched his mind on how to describe the person and finally settled on albino. The red streaks in the hair could easily be written off as hair dye.

"Why so interesting in the wildlife?"

Skyfire smiled slightly. Not very many people were interested in what he did. "I'm a scientist. The things in this area are so different from where I grew up and I haven't seen things quite like this."

A pale hand was held out and Skyfire reluctantly handed over his sketch pad to the other male. He watched as he flipped through the different drawings, pausing when he reached the sketch of Bumblebee that Skyfire did. It was the only sketch of a person and shortly after that, the Autobot suggested to him that he should go find some flowers to study, a faint blush crossing his cheeks.

"You have a good eye," the older male said, almost grudgingly.

Murmuring a soft "thanks," Skyfire gratefully took back the drawings handed to him and watched as the man turned to leave. He didn't know what compelled him to act, but before he could take a few steps, Skyfire grabbed his hand, feeling something arc between them.

"Will you be back again sometime?"

"…Maybe next week."

They left it as that and the scientist watched as he walked off, nearly absorbed in the way other moved and how different he was from those around him.

Sitting down quickly, Skyfire picked up a pencil and bean to sketch as much as he could remember of the man, making as many notes as possible. His human like hands worked much better on the finer details and he was happy with how it came out, despite finishing the picture with the title of "Unknown."

"Skyfire!"

Looking up, Skyfire closed the sketch pad and stood up, his legs a bit wobbly after kneeling in one position for so long. He jogged over to where Bumblebee waited for him. Beside him was a male and female about the same age, if only a tiny bit taller, with a politely interested expression on their faces.

"Sky, this is Sam and Mikaela. Sam and Kaela, this is Skyfire, a new friend."

**oOo**

Barricade looked up at the form that stormed through the door of their hideout, the pale biodroid snarling as he grabbed for something to destroy. There was a pile of useless things by the door that the Decepticon left for the new guest and it was a lot easier to clean up than a few missiles through a wall. Behind Barricade, sitting next to his original form, the F-22 fighter jet hummed with barely suppressed energy.

"Something not to your liking?" he asked dryly.

"These bodies are almost to fragging worthless!" Starscream sneered, a thin strip of sheet metal falling from his feet, almost crumpled to a ball. "Why does everything I experience feel so weird?!"

"Weird how?" Barricade asked, tinkering with the delicate inner workings of Frenzy's circuitry.

"Emotions. It was easier to be cold and uncaring before this, but now everything is…_weird_."

"When I tried looking up the answer the first time I experienced this, the only thing that showed up was 'hormones.'"

Red eyes blinked in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

**oOo**

Author's Note: Wow, such a good response to Skyfire... And I'm sorry, I couldn't help but put him mainly in a form of a twelve year old. I thought it was a good idea. And while he can change his form nearly at will, it'll probably stay in the "small" range.


	19. Unsuspecting

It was in the middle of the night when it happened, so no one could really point fingers at the culprit, but that didn't stop the enraged biodroid of Sustreaker from tearing off to the main base with his comrades closely behind, mildly amused. No one at the base knew what happened until Sunstreaker got there, and even then, they could only stare at each other in vague surprise and amusement.

"One of you had to have done it!" the blond twin yelled, his accusatory gaze wavering between three untouched Autobots; Optimus, Ironhide, and Prowl.

Bumblebee came up beside Optimus, rubbing his eyes sleepily as Skyfire followed him, looking like a young child who woke up too earlier. With everyone in one area, it was easy to see why the fast hitting warrior accused them.

Everyone in the group had their hair braided if it was long enough. Bumblebee's hair braided in short braids that almost stuck out from his head while Jazz's dreadlocks were woven into thicker braids. Skyfire's hair trailed behind him as he moved, the white braids thinner than the ones of the red streaks and Ratchet's hair was pulled back in similar thin plaits. Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe suffered the same fate, and the blond twin didn't like how Arcee stood behind them, completely fine with her new braided style.

"Le' me get this straight," Jazz said, crossing his arms over his bare chest and not fazed by being the only person still in his pajamas. He was a little… busy… when Sunstreaker came storming into the base. "Ya acussin' the three mos' serious guys in the base of this?"

Sunstreaker fell silent at that and Sideswipe snickered behind him, not caring about the accusatory glare Sunstreaker now aimed at him. "Do you know how long it would take me to get the braids out!? My hair is going to frizz!"

Everyone froze at the soft giggling and as one turned to stare at the small form that was using Bumblebee as a shield.

"YOU!" Sunstreaker roared, taking off after the small scientist as Skyfire yelped and ran to the exit of the base, the braids trailing behind him like hundreds of small streamers.

"Did he really braid Sunny's hair?" Jazz asked Bumblebee, moving closer so that their conversation wasn't heard.

"Of course not," the young blond murmured. "He was busy braiding your's and Ratchet's hair while Arcee and I took care of the others."

Sunstreaker had almost caught up to Skyfire when the child form dodged behind someone. He came up short, staring at the small hands that clutched onto a skirt, before his blue eyes looked up at the owner of said skirt.

"Maggie!" he said, giving the woman his best "You look stunning!" look.

"Sun. Care to tell why you're chasing a child?"

"He's not a child!" Sunstreaker snarled, glaring back at the glowing, defiant eyes of Skyfire. Maggie's shifting feet gave Sunstreaker his only warning and he decided that it would be best to go after the new team member when Maggie knew exactly who he was.

**oOo**

Skyfire sat on a park bench, humming happily to himself as he managed to catch a radio station with the wireless built into his biodroid, watching people move around him. Bumblebee came to the park again that was across the street from the mall to meet his friends and Skyfire asked if he could come too, though for different reasons.

He was trying to be in the park at the same time as often as he could, hoping that the person he met his first day there would come back and that they could talk to each other. Nearly two weeks went by and Skyfire didn't feel any sorrow that he had yet to meet him again. After all, the person said "maybe" and things could have come up.

"Do you wait for me every day?"

The scientist jerked up in surprise, his mind pulled out of the radio station he was listening to and he smiled as his eyes landed on the aristocratic features. "Not everyday. I just like watching people move around and one of the people I'm staying with comes here often to visit with his friends." A silver white eyebrow rose. "Why? Have you been spying on me?"

"No, you just tend to be leaving when I show up. Had to make it a point to get here earlier than usual."

Skyfire felt heat suffuse his checks and he ducked his head the moment his mind associated the feeling with blushing. He was acutely aware of the person sitting down beside him and he couldn't help the stutter that came with his words. "I-I never c-caught your name."

"…Sidus."

"Sidus…" Skyfire flipped open his ever present sketchbook to the page where he first drew the male and labeled it in neat, flowing script.

"Is that… that's me!"

Skyfire stood quickly, dancing away from the hands that tried to grab the sketchbook. "This is my book! You didn't ask to see!"

"Ask to see?"

At first, Skyfire thought he did something wrong, still new to the ways of humans, but the wicked gleam in the red eyes and the amused smirk was the only warning he got before Sidus lunged for him. Yelping, he began to run and jerking in surprise when a strong hand latched onto his wrist. Not watching where his feet went, Skyfire went down in a tumble of limbs, pulling Sidus down with him.

There was an "oomph!" from one of them, he wasn't sure which, but the next thing he knew he was staring up into red eyes framed by strands of white hair. The blush from earlier was back and it spread like wildfire through the rest of him.

"Your hair looks nice like this…" Sidus murmured, touching one of the few braids spread out under Skyfire.

"One of my friends did it."

Sidus didn't say anything, only smiling slightly as he leaned closer. Skyfire breath hitched for a moment, not knowing what was happening but unable to stop it, _not wanting_ to stop it. Instead, he leaned up to meet the male halfway, feeling something akin to electricity arc through him as his lips touched Sidus's lips, but jerked back slightly as a call echoed through the park.

"Sky!"

Sidus looked up, his eyes narrowing slightly, but he looked back to Skyfire when he struggled to get up. "Sky?"

"My name doesn't translate well. My friends just call me that."

"Ah."

Skyfire gratefully accepted the hand to help him up. He looked over to where Bumblebee stood near his Camaro, Sam and Mikaela's back to them.

"My friends are waiting. Talk to you later?"

"I'll be waiting," Sidus replied, one elegant hand lightly touching Skyfire's cheek.

Unable to respond to Sidus coherently, Skyfire nodded and jogged to his friends, not looking back until he stopped in front of the car, and by then, Sidus had disappeared.

**oOo**

Starscream went back to the current Decepticon hideout in a daze, barely acknowledging Barricade much less listening to him when he said something about parts of a project missing

_I don't care if it's because of hormones,_ the Air Commander thought. _I just want to see him again…_

**oOo**

Bumblebee blinked in surprise as he saw his leader sitting on the flat roof of the base, staring at the setting sun, with the red and yellow knitted blanket draped across his shoulders. "You're up here before me…" he said, raising one blond eyebrow.

"For once."

"For once." Bumblebee sat down between Optimus's knees, leaning back against the solid chest as strong arms came around him, enveloping him in warmth and security. Bumblebee looked around, spotting the camouflaged form of Skyfire's mech by the beginnings of a large structure before turning his own attention to the red and purple sky, "What's up?"

After a moment's pause, Optimus said, "Something's off about Skyfire."

"If it's the braids, it was completely my idea. And Arcee's. It was our idea."

"Not the braids," he said, chuckling as he tugged at one laced through with black. "No. It's something else. It hasn't been showing much in the past week, but now he's acting…" Optimus trailed off as he tried to find the appropriate words.

"In love."

"Yes. Wait, what?"

"Sky's lovesick. I think he's found someone he likes. Saw them talking a while back and again today."

"How do you know this?"

Instead of replying verbally, Bumblebee turned in Optimus's arms and kissed him, drawing a surprised noise out of him at the powerful way the younger warrior acted. The kiss quickly gentled and by the time Bumblebee pulled away, Optimus had a rather dazed expression.

"That's how," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Wha…"

"You're acting like he did when we first picked him up. Dazed, head in the clouds, responding in vague words."

"Oh…"

The blond settled back into his "proper" place, enjoying the silence for a few minutes before saying, "That and Mikaela said so. Maybe we should ask Jazz to confirm…"

Down in the command center, Prowl looked up as Jazz sneezed, muttering something about dust before getting back to work at his console, looking over reports that Maggie left them earlier.

**oOo**

Author's Note: This is too short for how long it took to write out...

In case it wasn't clear, Sidus is a name Starscream assumed. Don't ask why. I think it means "Star" in Latin, but don't quote me on that!


	20. Arrival

Bumblebee stared at the poster attached to the ceiling of Sam's room, listening to the human pace and mutter things under his breath, his school worked finished and stuffed into a backpack as Sam tried to think of an idea for a class fundraiser for a charity, their "goodwill" act for the year.

"You can have… a… bake sale? Where you sell baked goods?" Bumblebee paused as he did a quick internet search and he nodded to himself. "We'll have to keep 'Hide away from it though."

A chuckled answered that inquiry but Sam didn't reply otherwise. There goes another idea…

"What about a car wash?"

"It's all too cliché 'school fundraiser!' Bee."

"Well, I know of nine people who might come to the car wash."

The pacing stopped and Bumblebee tilted his head so that he could watch his friend who fell unexpectedly silent.

"Nine?"

"Well, it's might be hard to wash a motorcycle and a space jet is a bit too big."

Eyes widened in realization, and then narrowed.

"I refuse to wash a semi."

**oOo**

Bumblebee had volunteered to help out his human friend with the car wash that was picked by the class, even dragging in some of the other Autobots to help, but he really wasn't reassured by the silver words written on his windows by something called "car chalk" and Sam had to promise him that he would personally wash the Camaro and make sure all of the silver stuff came off.

The blond leaned against the Camaro, comfortable in his khaki cargo shorts and black tank top, as he eyed the people on the other side of the parking lot. Bumblebee's friends stood near by, Mikaela, Sam, Miles, Arcee, Skyfire, and the people Sam had termed as the "unpopular crowd." The other side had the "jocks, cheerleaders, and rich" people. Bumblebee failed to see what that had to do with anything, but he remembered one human, Trent, and his black truck was easily noticeable.

"Why is there a contest?" he asked softly.

"There shouldn't be," Mikaela replied. "The football team just wants it to be that way and for some reason the teachers agree."

"Promotes healthy competition!" Sam said in a fake, excited voice, barely moving in time as Skyfire ran by with the drying cloth given to him. Nearly everyone fell in love with the twelve year old form of the scientist and Skyfire just seemed to soak it up. But everyone did learn within five minutes that Skyfire was not to be in control of the hose, buckets filled with soapy water, and sponges. Now he was helping some of the girls on their side dry off a car, his long hair still in the ridiculous tiny braids.

"And how is it decided on who wins?"

"By how expensive the car is," Sam mutter, glaring at the sports people. All of them had their parents and friends bring in their cars and were ahead of unpopular crowd's side.

Bumblebee wrinkled his nose in distaste, though he straightened slightly when he caught a flash of gold yellow and red in the traffic that passed the school. "I think we're about to pull ahead, permanently."

Miles perked up. "Why do you say… that…"

Pulling up on the unpopular side were two Lamborghini Reventóns, one gold yellow and the other red, followed by a modified white Pontiac Solstice with blue and red racing stripes and a number "4" painted on the side, a white 2009 Nissan GT-R with a thin strip of police lights noticeable in the front windshield, four police cars, and a white and red rescue Hummer.

"Yea…" Sam said as he watched Sunstreaker and Sideswipe get out of the Lamborginis, his voice a half an octave higher than normal. "I'd say we win."

"Primus Sunny!" Arcee said, walking up to the blond twin. "Did you have to bring the entire city?"

"Hey!" Sideswipe said, looking indignant. "We just got out of practice and told Jazz. Jazz told Prowl, and Prowl told some of his friends on the force. Not our fault they all decided to come."

"Practice?" Skyfire slid down the wind shield and hood of the Camaro, completely missing the slight wince that crossed Bumblebee's face as he focused on the new arrivals. "What kinda practice?"

"Judo practice…" Ratchet said darkly, transferring his glare to Jazz as the dark skinned man snickered.

Skyfire looked confused as Bumblebee and Arcee also laughed. "I don't get it," he said with a slight pout.

"Don't worry, Sky, neither do we," Mikaela answered, tugging one of the red braids.

One of the teachers walked forward, greeting Ratchet and Prowl as she kept an eye on the twins and their cars, probably cringing at the mere thought of how much it would cost to fix the paint job of one if a student scratched it. "You brought quite a lot of people with you, Mister…"

"Prowl."

"Prowl..?"

"Just Prowl. I'm in an organization that cooperates with the government," his iridescent eyes flickered over to the Sam and Mikaela when they snickered, "and my leader has agreed to match the amount of money your… students have acquired by the end of the day."

"B-but how d-did you find out about us?" the teacher asked, wondering how a large organization with ties to government found out about their school.

"Samuel Witwicky."

Everyone turned to look at the teen and Bumblebee grinned at his friend as Sam tried to pull the blond in front of him. Instead, Bumblebee pushed Sam to the teacher and his comrades, amused at how the human blushed and stuttered, trying to fast talk the teacher and explain why he would know important people.

"C'mon kids!" Mikaela said, turning to the rest of the teenage population surrounding them. "We got work to do!"

Everyone jumped and moved about, grabbing buckets and sponges. Even a few people from the other side moved over to help, looking at Bumblebee's group with envy as they began to work on the new, expensive cars. Bumblebee didn't think anything of it when he bumped into Jazz while working on the Pontiac

"That's too much!"

Bumblebee jerked up to see what was going on by with the teacher and Prowl, but went back to work when Jazz nudged him. "What's too much?"

"The amount Prowl's probably paying right now. But there's a special request coming shortly."

Receiving no further information, Bumblebee went back to work, taking a small moment to switch on his radio and blasting music across the parking lot.

**oOo**

Bumblebee groaned as he leaned back against the hood of his vehicle, the warm metal soothing out his tense muscles but doing nothing to his sunburned back, having lost his shirt a few hours ago. The amount of students drastically dwindled down to only a handful plus the Autobot and it had been a long day.

"I refuse to wash anything taller than me…" Bumblebee muttered, glaring over at Ratchet's vehicle. The vehicle shined in the light of a setting sun, but the same couldn't have been said about the biodroid form of the medic who was surrounded by a few people, all wondering if he was Skyfire's "big brother."

"I don't know," Jazz murmured as he sidled up next to the blond. "You're probably going to be the one to do the 'special request' that should show up any time."

"It's not 'Hide, is it? He can wash himself!"

"No, not Ironhide. He's with the Lennoxs today."

"But then who…" Bumblebee trailed off as the familiar sound of a diesel engine reached him and he stood up straight as quick as he could, just in time to watch the flame decorated semi pull into the parking lot with an older model white, red, and green Lancia Stratos trailing close behind.

Bumblebee didn't really notice the dark marks all over Wheeljack's armor, the back of his mind already dismissing it as the remains of the last explosion, but his sky blue eyes picked up every single laser mark on the blue and red armor. When he saw the humanoid form of Optimus climb out of the cab, he exploded.

"What the hell happened!?" he yelled, the human phrase coming easily to him.

Optimus froze but then gave the blond a sheepish smile. "I was practicing and forgot to reset the course for normal instead of scout mode."

Bumblebee winced. He was the last one to use the course as far as he knew, setting the targets and weaponry to fight against someone his size and ability. The lasers didn't hurt, just stung a little and left a mark on the armor that had to be scrubbed off, but they were still a nuisance. Sighing softly, he let it go without a fight and nimbly climb up the semi, finding every possible place to use as a hand hold until he got on the roof.

"Throw me a sponge Prowl!" he yelled down, grinning when the tactician looked at him, slightly confused, as he threw a wet, soapy sponge. "Jazz! Arcee! Get the rest of us over here to work on Optimus! I don't think the teachers would let any of the students climb up here."

Jazz, and Sideswipe moved to start cleaning the semi while Arcee and Skyfire began to work on the scorch marks decorating the Lancia. Ratchet kept giving Wheeljack dark looks, muttering under his breath from his position by the rescue Hummer. The scientist grinned weakly but when he moved to help his comrades, he was pushed back by Arcee, saying that it was their job and was left to stand by Sunstreaker who leaned against his own vehicle.

Bumblebee was rinsing off the top of the semi as he spotted two more cars pulling into the parking lot, two men getting out of the vehicles and looking around uncertainly. As nimble as a gymnastic, the blond swung off of the semi and quickly made his way over to the young brown eyed brown haired male that looked over at the other car nervously. The person that left the blue car had the same hair and eye color as the first man, but his features were different.

_Must be friends then,_ Bumblebee thought as he came up to the first man. "You're lucky. We're almost done for the day."

"Ah… We saw your sign and wanted to get our cars clean before we meet with some of our friends but then we noticed that it was a charity and my friend and I don't have any money but if that's a problem we can leave you don't have to worry about hurting our feelings and—"

"It's no problem at all," Bumblebee said with a smile. "It might be a few minutes before we can get the others to help since we had a special request." Brown eyes flickered over to the semi but Bumblebee didn't notice as he walked up to the silver gray car, looking it over. The vehicle was the same model as Prowl's, but some of the metal was dented, warped as if it got hit by something at high speed. Black marks decorated the chassis and doors and Bumblebee frowned, looking over at the young man only to grin when something clicked in his mind.

Walking over to the gold Lamborgini, he picked up a bucket filled with soap and water and a sponge, grabbed the blond twin by his shirt sleeve, and dragged him over to the car, thrusting the bucket in Sunstreaker's chest and gave him an innocent smile as Sunstreaker growled at him. When he was sure that the blond was working on the strange markings, Bumblebee moved over to stand by the car's owner.

"It looks like you got in a fight there, but we'll be able to get the scorch marks off," the blond said, looking over at the blue car and studying it for a minute. A quick internet search supplied Bumblebee with "Maserati MC12 Corsa" and that sealed it for him. Normal humans dressed in plain shirt and jeans would not be driving around in cars that would cost over 1.5 million dollars total. "A fight would explain why it's taken you so long to get here, Bluestreak."

The man looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open in shock and his companion moved over to them quickly. Bumblebee sent out a weak pulse of his unique signal, not paying attention as every single Autobot around him looked up in surprise, but was relieved when two sets of brown eyes lit up in recognition.

"Bumblebee?" came a soft whisper, one hand reaching out to touch his arm. Bumblebee's right arm tingled at the contact as the hand passed through it. "But how? Why are you human? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Everything's okay! Just a new way to blend in. You can get one too, if you want. I'm also a bit surprised that the twins beat you here."

"The twins are here?" Bluestreak's hologram looked around hopefully and the new arrival unconsciously sent out his signal but he smiled in delight as Sunstreaker stopped washing his car, stiffening in shock, and Sideswipe wandered over, a surprised but happy expression on his face. The hologram moved back over to the car, quickly talking to the twins in a way that only Bluestreak can. Sideswipe's expression also took on one of relief and Sunstreaker just went back to scrubbing at the black marks, only a faint smile showing on his lips as he listened to the conversation.

Bumblebee's attention went back to Bluestreak's companion who had yet to speak up, but the identity issue was solved the moment he began to talk.

"Lookslikeyougotyourvoiceback!"

"Looks like you still haven't slowed yours down. Picked a fraggin' expensive car over there."

Plain brown eyes looked over at the blue race car and the hologram just shrugged. "Gottahavesomethingtokeepupwithmyspeed."

Bumblebee jumped when a hand touched his sun burnt shoulder but he relaxed at the feel of familiar calluses and the cool metal of a ring. Leaning back, the blond said, "We've got two more soldiers, sir."

"Sir?" The hologram confused but then he straightened, looking unsure if he should salute or not. "OptimusPrimesir! Ididn'tknowitwasyou!"

Optimus chuckled, moving so that his arms rested across Bumblebee's waist, his chin lightly touching the blond's shoulder. "That's a good thing, Blurr. Makes the 'blending in' part more of a success."

"Weranintoometroublegettinghereotherwisewewouldhavegottenheresooner!"

Optimus frowned. "Decepticons?"

The hologram shrugged. "Notsure. Theydidn'thaveanyinsigniasonthem."

"I'll have to talk to Prowl and Jazz about this," Optimus muttered. "I'm glad that the two of you are here anyway. We'll talk more at the base later. We have a new member to introduce anyway."

Bumblebee blinked, moving so that he could see Optimus's crystal blue eyes. "When are we heading back?"

"As soon as you get Blurr and Bluestreak cleaned. The teachers have decided that the day is done."

"It would go quicker if you help, y'know."

Optimus was about to say something but was stopped when Bumblebee leaned up and kissed him quickly before moving off to grab some cleaning supplies. The blond chuckled as he looked back, watching Optimus following him, muttering about "sneaky moves" and Blurr's hologram just walked behind them quietly, the look of surprise not quite leaving his face.

**oOo**

**Author's Note: **And more characters appear! … Character count: 16, I think.

Ugh… I decide to actually name some of the non-movie characters' cars, and my mind happily exploded about how cool the ones I looked at were… Anyway, the cars named that were not in the movie/G1(type into wikipedia):

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker: Lamborghini Reventón

Prowl and Bluestreak: Nissan GT-R

Blurr: Maserati MC12 Corsa


	21. Caught

Optimus refused to release the sigh that was held barely at bay, feeling his biodroid body stiffen at a ready stance only to flow smoothly into the first steps of a fighting form, the hilt of a prototype energy sword smooth in his hands, the blade dull without energy from his circuits to supply power. It had nothing to do with the fact that Wheeljack gave it to him a short while back, saying it was safe to power up, and wouldn't drain the leader even if he left the sword on for an extended period.

Instead, Optimus focused on what happened earlier in the day. He was glad that two more of his soldiers arrived safely from the stars. He had only enough time to brief Bluestreak and Blurr about Skyfire, the newest recruit, and bring them up to date about their situation before Sunstreaker and Sideswipe grabbed the gunner and proceeded to drag him off base. Blurr then said that if there was nothing else, he was going to run a perimeter check a few times before he recharged in one of the spare rooms at the base.

Optimus thought it felt good to leave the large mech of his body for a while and only use the human like body, relaxing as a cool breeze touched the bare skin of his shoulders and his back, the simple button up shirt hanging from a tree branch a short ways off. The sun was setting, almost half of it disappearing under the edge of the horizon, so Optimus wasn't worried about the body's skin being "burnt" as the humans termed. Unlike Bumblebee.

The leader's movement paused for a moment as his mind went back to the blond and he couldn't help but smile as he remembered the shocked and worried way Bumblebee had yelled at him when he pulled into the school parking lot, not really noticing the amount of laser burns against his armor until the scout pointed it out. He then had to force his fighting stance back into proper place as he shivered. He just couldn't get out the feeling of Bumblebee's smaller hands working over the armor; one hand carefully scrubbing off the black marks while the other hand trailed behind, nearly caressing the armor as he made sure that nothing marred the paint, blond and black hair clinging to his face from sweat and water, the expression of happiness and contentment brightening up his face and eyes…

"Lost in your thoughts?" a voice murmured close by and Optimus swung around, the inactive sword in his hand jerking down.

A slender hand caught his wrist and the lithe body moved into his guard, skin brushing skin as the sword was easily avoid.

"You must be if you didn't hear me come up," Bumblebee smirked, not moving from his spot.

"You are too sneaky for your own good," Optimus replied, pulling away from Bumblebee and back into a fighting stance. He watched with approval as the blond's stance widened, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, before he rushed in, attacking with the flat of the sword.

Bumblebee did a back flip, putting his gymnast body to use, and stepped to the side, easily avoiding the attack and counter-attacked, breaking Optimus's guard and getting close to him. But instead of a hit, fingers gently grazed the skin over his ribs before Bumblebee pulled away to what he judged to be a safe distance.

After that, the fight became a blur in Optimus's mind, punctuated only by breathy exclamations and teasing touches. Optimus soon forgot the sword, the item lying on the leaves on the ground, as he focused on catching the blond, grinning in triumph when he did, his arms circling the thin waist of the scout much like it did only a few hours ago. The heat radiating from Bumblebee's unnaturally red shoulders sank in the chilled skin of Optimus's chest and the older soldier leaned back enough to inspect it.

The skin quickly turned from white to red when he moved, color rushing back when nothing was in contact with the skin, and Optimus brushed his hand against it, almost missing the soft hitch in Bumblebee's breathing. The circuitry across his neck seemed to glow faintly in the falling light, nearly hidden by the fall of blond and black hair, and Optimus brushed his fingers against it, feeling the cool, flexible metal hum slightly as it worked to keep Bumblebee's consciousness in the body.

"Optimus!" Bumblebee cried, no longer able to contain himself as sensations ran rampant through him at the touch. His head fell back against his leader's shoulder, his shoulder blades and back pressed up against the bare skin of Optimus's chest and stomach.

The blue haired man leaned forward, pressing his lips at the edge of circuitry and skin, and smiled as a soft whimper left the blond. Bumblebee began to squirm in his arms as the hand that was left resting on the scouts stomach began to stroke the smooth skin, dipping slightly lower with each pass.

"Tell me what you want," Optimus murmured softly, directly into Bumblebee's ear.

"Touch me?" Bumblebee asked softly…

**oOo**

Bumblebee lay against Optimus for a while, the bright, neon blue glow not quite leaving their blue eyes as they watched the last rays of the sun disappear under the horizon. Optimus brushed his fingers against the skin of Bumblebee's back and he smiled softly before gently pressing a kiss to the blond's temple.

"We need to get back to base and see if Ratchet has anything for your back," Optimus murmured softly.

"In a few minutes?" Bumblebee asked, looking up at Optimus with a tired but calm expression. "I just want to stay here for a while. Just the two of us."

"If that's what you want." Optimus leaned far enough over to kiss his lover, the blond's hum of happiness washing over him. For Bumblebee, anything.

**oOo**

Short, I know, but I need to work on the OPxBee side of things... And I promised someone a shirtless Optimus...


	22. Blue

**Author's Note:** Here is the reason why the rating has been pushed to M. Don't expect me to post the human side of things though...

**oOo**

Bluestreak didn't quite know what to expect when he arrived on the planet with Blurr at his side. After the both of the got separated from the rest of their squad, they did the only thing that they could think of: get to the planet that their leader's message came from. By then, his self repair system fixed the damage done to him, leaving only the black marks on his armor. Getting a new alt-mode didn't get rid of them so Blurr suggested that they stop by a "car wash." That stop turned into a reunion as Bumblebee's signal echoed off of the blond human standing beside him, eyes nearly glowing.

After that everything was a haze in his mind. Nothing could bring down Bluestreak from the happiness of knowing that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe was safe, was alive, was there with him.

Optimus had explained to him and Blurr why they were in organic bodies after speaking of the battle on the earth over the AllSpark, but Bluestreak honestly couldn't remember any of it if he was questioned. Mere moments after Optimus proclaimed his story done, the twins had popped in the room, asked if the leader was done, and promptly drag Bluestreak out, leaving a vaguely confused Blurr and a smiling Optimus.

And that's how he ended up on the road, following the red twin with the yellow one close behind, trailing his every tiny swerve. Bluestreak just wanted a chance to recharge, to rest in a place where he knew that enemies won't be popping out of no where to take a shot at his back. But he continued to follow, trusting the two Lamborghinis to know where they were going.

They drove until the sun disappeared and finally stopped at a cliff edge, the view overlooking the town nearby with lights glittering like multicolored stars. Bluestreak converted to his bipedal form, looking over the lights with a soft smile, as was about to turn back to address the twins when two sets of hands caught him, gold fingers finding the seams of his armor while black hands gently caressed the edges of his door-wings, sending electrical charges down to his core.

Bluestreak wasn't even prepared as an overload hit his systems with such a force that he offlined for a short while. When his optics came back online, he was lying on the ground, cradled against Sunstreaker while Sideswipe's head was resting on his chassis, right over his Spark chamber.

The twins quickly noticed that their companion was awake and their hands began to move, slowly but surely, finding near forgotten wires sensitive to touch and armor openings hidden away from the dangers of battle; the base of Bluestreak's door-wings, the small opening just under his chassis, the sensitive cluster of wires on his inner left thigh, so close to his hip joint… The pleasure built slowly at first but jumped when Sunstreaker and Sideswipe simultaneously uplinked with him. The denting grip at his hips and his own hand clutching at his lovers' arms seemed to give testament to how long it has been for them.

Emotions washed over the young gunner in waves; love, adoration, worry, concern, regret, confession, devotion, affection… Bluestreak moaned softly as he overloaded for the second time, taking the twins with him, and his cooling systems kicked in to dispel the heat built up in his wires. When he calmed down enough, he leaned forward to catch Sideswipe in a gentle kiss before turning enough to give Sunstreaker the same attention.

"You don't need to ask for something that doesn't need to be forgiven," Bluestreak said, catching Sunstreaker's hand in his while the other hand caressed the edges of Sideswipe's helm. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when I should have been."

"Wait…" Sunstreaker said. "Are you saying that you've been with no one since we've separated?"

"Well, there were a few times when someone had to wake me from a nightmare and they stayed with me until I was able to fall back asleep but other than that, no."

"Primus Blue," Sideswipe chuckled. "No wonder you offlined with only few touches."

Bluestreak felt his face heat at the words and he buried his head against Sideswipe's chest armor, feeling the metal vibrate slightly as the warrior continued to laugh.

**oOo**

Arcee looked up from her book as a young man knocked on the open door of her room. Since Bluestreak and Blurr arrived the day before, it was one of them, and if the red hair that framed his face with twin streaks of silver-gray that arced from his forehead had anything to go by…

"Hey Arcee I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming with me for a while. I understand if you don't want to and I can come back later but it would be easier if I can talk to you and Wheeljack at the same time while Sunny and Sides are on patrol…"

Bluestreak.

"It's no trouble," Arcee replied, setting down the book and moving to leave her room. "Have you got a hold of Jack yet?"

"Not yet. I haven't figured out where to find him."

"He'll most likely be in his lab then," she replied, catching hold of Bluestreak's thin wrist and pulling him along with her down the hall, out of the house, and to a separate building that held Wheeljack's personal lab. Arcee knocked loudly on the door and it was only a half a minute before Wheeljack opened the door, looking vaguely confused, with safety goggles holding back his hair and slightly singed gloves hanging from one hand.

"Yes?"

"Blue wishes to speak with us together."

"Ah. Okay. Come in." Wheeljack moved back enough for the other two to come in and directed them to an area that had a few chairs and couches, obviously the place that he went to when he wanted to relax.

Wheeljack took the end of one couch while Arcee sat in a chair near him, looking back at Bluestreak as he stood before them, studying his feet that were hidden by pants that were large and baggy on him and playing with the hems of the sleeves that fell past the tips of his fingers.

"You can start anytime, Blue," Wheeljack said, encouraging the gunner.

Blue nodded, focused his overly bright blue eyes on his companions, took a deep breath, and went for it.

"I'm sorry that I took Sides and Sunny away I really didn't mean to and I know that they were your lovers while everyone was separated into different squads and I didn't want to hurt your feelings and Sunny said that you would know this already but I didn't want to leave it up to chance and have you two figure it out only to get mad at me because I didn't tell you and–"

"Whoa! Blue, honey, calm down!" Arcee quickly got up from her seat, feeling a bit guilty when the gunner jumped, and carefully pulled him over to the couch so that he sat between her and Wheeljack. "There's nothing to apologize for. If anything, i we /i feel bad because we stole your boys."

"But it was just battle nerves and you didn't mean to steal them just confirm that you were still alive and existing—"

"What Arcee is trying to say," Wheeljack interjected gently, "is that if you need to apologize, we need to apologize. We knew they were yours from the beginning."

"You don't need to apologize!"

"Then neither do you!"

Bluestreak tentatively smiled but his expression froze for a moment. "I need to go back to base and speak with Prowl. He just asked me if I could go through some test runs."

"I can drive you there. You'll have to sit behind me though."

"Good to go?" Wheeljack asked, a smile softening his words.

"Yea. Thanks Wheeljack."

Arcee headed towards the exit with Bluestreak in tow as the scientist went back to what he was doing before the got there. Halfway to the house garage that usually held the twin's vehicles and her own motorbike, she asked. "Are you wearing their clothes?"

"Yes. Sunny's shirt and Side's jeans. They feel weird."

"They're not supposed to be that big, but it could just feel weird because it's your first time wearing clothing, right?"

"Yea…" He trailed off for a moment before saying, "So my pants aren't always supposed to be this low?"

Blinking, Arcee looked back at the gunner and had to stop herself as she saw Bluestreak lift the edge of his shirt so that he could inspect the waistband of the jeans that were slung _dangerously_ low on his hips. Quickly turning away, she took off the belt she was wearing and handed it back towards Bluestreak. "You can use this for a while to keep them up."

"Thanks!"

Arcee could feel her own jeans shift a little without the support of the belt, but it wasn't in any danger of falling like Bluestreak's pants were. She glanced back again, saw that Bluestreak had the bottom shirt hem under his chin, showing his flat stomach and trimmed form that was hidden by the large clothing, as he carefully laced the belt through the belt loops, and Arcee determinedly turned away. _Primus don't tempt me!_ she thought as she continued to the garage.

**oOo**

Bright blue eyes tried to keep up with the fast moving form that darted through the obstacle course, taking out any target that managed to pop up in time to catch his attention. Blurr skidded to a halt a few meters past the line marking the end, his pale blue eyes looking back at Ratchet as he ran his hand through dark blue hair, pushing the few strands away from his eyes. He walked back over to Ratchet and talked quietly to the medic before heading towards the exit at a light jog, silent the entire way.

Bluestreak turned to follow his friend, wondering why the speedster was so quiet, when Ratchet grabbed him by the wrist and practically dragged him out of the room and down the hall to another.

"What's wrong Ratchet? If there's something wrong you can just tell me, you don't have to pull me down the hall or…" Bluestreak's talking trailed off as he looked around the room. The entire place was dark, the back wall not even visible, but there seemed to be a large window built into one of the side walls.

The young gunner yelped as Ratchet shoved safety glasses onto his face, effectively covering his eyes, and added heavy acoustic earmuffs just before giving Bluestreak something heavy and made of metal.

The door slid shut as Ratchet exited the room and Blue stared at the gun in his hand, his mind working quickly but mainly went along the lines of how different it was from his mech's gun and it felt weird when there was a flash of light within the room and instinctively, Bluestreak took aim and fired.

**oOo**

"And you say this one has absolutely no experience with earth weapons?" the human chief from the local police department said.

"Absolutely none," Prowl replied, watching the younger Autobot in his new biodroid form take out target after target. Nothing of earth origin could punch through the glass of the window that looked down on the target range, and he wasn't worried about being hit.

"Why do you feel the need to show me this?" the chief asked again. "You've made it clear that he will not be hired onto the police force."

"To show you, if there is ever a need for a sniper in a hostage situation, you have the option of calling here."

The chief considered this as he watch Bluestreak stop firing the empty gun and moved out to inspect the target he hit. Prowl looked over to the entrance of the room as the door opened and watched as Ratchet came over to the window, removing the tie that held his hair back in a loose ponytail.

"Where did Blurr go off to?"

"He went over to the house. It's less crowded that here and I think he's having a bit of trouble adjusting to the new situation?"

Prowl frowned. "Trouble how?"

**oOo**

Wheeljack looked up as someone wandered into lab, confused as to why there was no knock to announce the person's arrival. Since he never saw the person before but the main colors were blue, he decided it to be Blurr and left it at that. Wheeljack continued to fiddle with the delicate wiring of his own biodroid-to-mech headset but eventually stopped when a word hasn't been uttered by the fast talking Autobot.

Instead, Blurr was sitting opposite of him, twisting wire between slender fingers, and watching the thin metal move. His hair fell in front of his eyes slightly but it still had a "wind swept" look to it. But he was still _silent_!

"I didn't hear you pull in," Wheeljack said, switching the screwdriver in his hand for a smaller one.

"Base."

"Base?"

"C-car's at base."

The scientist stopped and looked up, his bright green eyes wide. "Did you stutter?"

"Shut up!" Blurr's pale blue eyes blazed in fury. "At least I c-can still run fast!"

**oOo**

**Author's Note:** Blurr's side of things will be explained in the next chapter, me thinks. Hope you enjoyed this!


	23. Stutter

_Blurr sat up slowly, taking a moment to test out everything of the new body; feet, legs, fingers, arms, air intakes… Everything seemed to work fine. Only a short while ago, he watched Bluestreak undergo the connection to the small, human like body and found it fascinating as the long white hair turned red and gray and shortened, going to a style that would look much like Prowl's hair if he combed it back._

_The young gunner got up and nervously talked with Ratchet as Blurr converted back to his vehicle form and Ratchet began the process on connecting him to a biodroid of his own. The speedster felt a bit disoriented as he looked around, seeing his vehicle only a few short feet away, the blue paint shining in the medic-bay lights._

_Ratchet was talking to himself as he began to disconnect various diagnostic tools from the vehicle and Blurr stood up carefully, nearly jumping when he felt hair brush his cheeks. Taking a moment to run his thin, human hands through his dark blue hair to get it out of the way, Blurr asked, "C-can I g-go now?"_

_And immediately stopped talking._

_Ratchet turned slowly, looking at Blurr. "Say again."_

"… _C-can I g-go now."_

"_You have a stutter."_

"_A what!?"_

"_A stutter." The medic carefully put down the tools and walked over, gently feeling the Autobot's throat. "There's nothing wrong with these bodies. Each of them are identical until one of us takes over." Ratchet pulled back thinking. "You can talk at your speed when you're in your mech because your mech was built to match that speed. The only way I can explain this is that your mental process is to fast and when you try to speak like you usually do, it comes out as a stutter."_

"_So I c-can speak normally if I slow myself d-down."_

"_I would think so, yes. There are humans that have this problem. If they're calm, they speak normally. But if they get excited, they start to stutter."_

_Blurr took a deep breath and said carefully, "Can I go now?"_

"_No, I need you here for tests."_

"_Tests?"_

"_Yes. Prowl should be contacting Bluestreak now."_

"_D-didn't he just leave?"_

"_You've been out for three hours."_

"_C-can I leave after the tests?"_

"_Yes. Now just follow me." Ratchet picked up something from his personal work area and walked out of the room, Blurr following him closely behind, stumbling slightly as he tried to get a new sense of balance._

**oOo**

After the tests, Blurr wandered over to the secondary house where the twins, Wheeljack, and Arcee lived, though he suspected that Bluestreak would start living there soon too. He found Wheeljack's lab by accident and was grateful when the scientist didn't kick him out, but then he found out about Blurr's problem.

"Do you know why you stutter?" Wheeljack asked, carefully setting aside a strange object.

Blurr moved in the opposite direction that the device was placed, eying it warily. "Ratchet says I think too fast. And I only stutter on some things."

"It's not's going to blow up!"

The blue haired man jumped, instinctively pulling away from the table and Wheeljack. "I'm s-s-sorry if your rec-c-c-cord t-tells me otherwise! I'll leave you t-to your exp-p-periments!"

Anger radiating from his form, Blurr removed himself from the building and walked over to the house. No one was home but that wasn't why he went there. Instead of going inside, he scaled the side of the house, using windows and the drain pipe on one side for hand holds. He reached the roof quickly and crawled across the shingles until he was on the side that faced away from Wheeljack's lab and he crossed his arms and rested them on his legs.

"S-s-stupid J-j-jack!" he muttered, glaring at the closest tree branch. He feel silent after that not wanting to hear his voice stutter and add to his anger but the thoughts kept chasing each other around in his head.

_Shouldn't have come to this planet. Should have stayed up where I could have done some good. Could have made sure Blue got here safe and went to help others_.

"Feel up for a drive?"

Blurr jerked up, looking into two bright blue optics in surprise. "Why d-do I need t-to go for a d-drive?"

Bumblebee looked a bit sheepish and he shrugged. "Driving can help clear your mind."

The speedster paused before nodding, carefully climbing to his feet and on to the hand held out to him. Bumblebee lowered him to the ground and converted to his vehicle mode, the passenger side door swinging open as a hologram flickered to life behind the steering wheel. It wasn't like the generic hologram that Blurr and Bluestreak had but an identical image of Bumblebee's biodroid, down to the red flush the sunburn left on his body.

Blurr got into the Camaro and Bumblebee pulled out onto the road, following a route that only he could see. The radio played softly, breaking the silence for a while until Blurr, who was looking out the window at the passing scenery, said, "How long d-does it t-take t-to get use t-to these bodies?"

"It'll depend on the mech," Bumblebee answered. "Skyfire and Arcee took to them right away but Prowl and 'Hide took a while. My first day I actually drove off without warning and cried at Sam's house."

"… Your voice has g-gotten b-better."

Bumblebee looked at Blurr, startled, and the sky blue eye lit up when he realized what was going on. "Maybe. My vocals still glitch out if I overheat or get excited. With my biodroid, there's a less of a chance of it happening."

Silence fell again and Bumblebee shifted as his engine switched gears, easily speeding up. "Y'know, there's a race track not that far from here where you can let loose if you want." The blonde smiled when he saw Blurr sit up straighter. "It'll be a good place to go and it might be a while before you get your number so you won't be pulled over every chance you pass a police person."

"What d-do you mean?"

"The Autobots get a special number so we won't get pulled over for breaking the law. Of course, while you might be able to speed, Sideswipe probably won't get away with it."

"How long until we g-get t-to the t-track?"

Bumblebee smiled. "That's more like it."

**oOo**

Wheeljack glared at his headset, picking the device back up after Blurr had left, only to set it back down. This happened many times in the past thirty minute and Wheeljack just couldn't get the injured look Blurr gave him out of his mind. It was annoying when everyone expected things that he touched to blow up, but he shouldn't have snapped at someone who was only a few hours into their new body.

He was about to give up and head to his personal area when the speakers in the lab and in the Lancia cracked to life.

_**"Bumblebee to base. Blurr and I are currently under attack twenty nine point four miles southeast of base.**_

"_What is your situation?"_ Prowl's voice asked.

_**"The enemy is just drones. They're not good at fighting but they're swarming. I can only hold out for a short while. One of them caught Blurr on the right side. Damaged some of his circuitry. He's barely conscious but he keeps talking about 'unable to feel' or something."**_

"_**Bumblebee, I'm en route to your position."**_ Optimus's voice echoed over the speakers.

Wheeljack grabbed his headset and pulled it on with a snap, technical readouts immediately scrolling down the eye piece. "I'm heading out too. ETA is about fifteen minutes."

_"You don't need to go there!" _Ratchet snarled as Wheeljack got into the Lancia and the car pulled out of the lab and onto the road, the route to his comrades already plotted out.

"I'm going because I can get Blurr out of the firefight and I can tell how much damage is done. You need to stay there in case Bee or Prime comes back injured."

Nothing was said for a minute and Wheeljack relaxed when Ratchet answered, _"Fine, but if the damage to Blurr is too extensive, bring him to the medbay immediately. We don't want a repeat of Bumblebee's incident if we can help it."_

"Acknowledged. Wheeljack out."

It took Wheeljack only ten minutes to get to the battle site once he reached the main highway leading out of the city and Optimus was already there, keeping the drones from swarming Bumblebee too much. The yellow scout was firing his cannon at the silver drones while the armor of his other arm shielded the more fragile body that he cradled close to his chassis. Once Wheeljack was in sight, though, he quickly walked over to the Lancia and Wheeljack had to scramble to climb out of the car in order to take Blurr from Bumblebee.

The biodroid's eyes were barely open, revealing them to be vaguely glowing, but Blurr didn't say anything as Wheeljack placed him into the passenger side seat and got into the driver's side himself. The drive back was uneventful, Wheeljack talking steadily as he reached over and checked the circuitry on his comrade, making mental notes as to where the damage was and how bad.

It could have easily been worse but luckily it wasn't. There was no damage to wires or the circuit board, but some of the soldering had melted and connected a few of the pathways together, scrambling some processes and probably wrecking havoc on Blurr's systems. There was nothing he could do until they got back to his labs so Wheeljack settled down for looking like he was driving while checking on his passenger every few minutes.

Blurr was starting to wake up by the time they reached the labs and Wheeljack was quick to get out of the Lancia and help Blurr out, the car rolling into the lab ahead of them. For a moment, Wheeljack was afraid that his memory was wiped clean like what happened to Bumblebee but that worry was dashed away when the blank look in Blurr's eyes cleared, but then was replaced by uncheck fear.

"Blurr?" Wheeljack asked softly.

The pale blue eyes focused the inventor for a moment before looking around wildly, pulling away from Wheeljack. "I… I c-c-can't f-f-feel my Spark. I c-c-can't f-f-feel it."

Wheeljack reached for the other man but before he could touch his arm, Blurr tore off into the woods. Wheeljack was frozen to his spot for a moment before he took off running after him, his vehicle backing out of the building and following close behind after it converted to its bipedal form. The inventor could barely keep Blurr in his sights as the speedster dodged trees and bushes, finding a clear path through the flora easily.

Readouts from Wheejack's mech scrolled down the eyepiece and Wheeljack put on a last burst of speed, catching Blurr's wrist just as they came out of the trees. He jerked his arm back, pulling Blurr to his chest and wrapping his arms around the thin figure. Blurr struggled but he didn't have the strength to pull away. Blurr continued to talk in odd stutters and no pauses, his eyes blind with panic.

Grimacing, Wheeljack removed the glove from his right hand and slid back a small, skin colored panel to reveal a small access port and cord. Grabbing Blurr's right wrist, he did the same and connected Blurr's cord to his port and Blurr immediately calmed down, his eyes sliding shut and his body falling limply against Wheeljack.

Wheeljack felt the speedster in his systems and programs, but it wasn't invasive or painful. He could tell the moment Blurr found his Spark pulse by the way he suddenly stopped moving through his system, Blurr's consciousness practically curling around the bright light.

With a sigh, Wheeljack gathered Blurr up in his arms for a second time that day and stood as his mech kneeled down near them, climbing onto the gray hands. With a silent command, he directed his larger body towards the main base. It took fifteen minutes of walking to see the large doors and a minute later he was in the medbay where Ratchet was repairing a few dents in Bumblebee's armor.

The yellow-green mech didn't glance over at them but the white haired medic walked over to them as Wheeljack was placed back on the ground. "Is it..?"

"Not as severe as what happened to Bee. He has his memories but due to the damage of his circuitry his access to his vehicle has been severed. Had to connect him to me to keep him from panicking."

Wheeljack moved his arms so that Ratchet could inspect the damage done to Blurr's biodroid and nodded. "I see. Do you require help?"

"No. I can handle it." Wheeljack adjusted his hold on Blurr and moved to set him down on a small, human sized berth. After carefully disconnecting Blurr from his arm, Wheeljack got the tools he required and began to work.

**oOo**

Wheeljack barely looked up from his current project, a new electric gun that the biodroids can hand, as the door to his lab opened enough to let in a slender form. Green eyes caught shades of blue before he gave his full attention to the gun.

"Might not be safe in here," Wheeljack said as he connected a wire. "You never know when something might explode."

"I know. That's why I c-came p-prepared."

Wheeljack looked up at Blurr and couldn't help but smile as the blue haired man adjusted the goggles over his eyes, giving him a grin back.

"Besides," Blurr said, his words careful. "I can outrun any explosion you might make."

**oOo**

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry this took so long but two characters were being idjits and refused to cooperate...


	24. Bond

Once the lake was in sight, Bumblebee was free from the patrol route that was assigned to him and he couldn't wait to jump into the water. There was still a threat of the drones since the small skirmish nearly a week ago happened but luckily there was no lasting damage. Blurr had recovered without a problem though now he seemed to be associating with Wheeljack more. He even moved in with Sunstreak, Sideswipe, and Bluestreak at the house. Arcee had, strangely enough, moved in with Skyfire at his new hanger.

The yellow and black mech whistled happily as he jumped into the large lake, going from car to mech quickly, the water splashing up over his heated metal and cooling it rapidly. Nothing felt better than the cool liquid washing over him, bringing down the temperature of his armor and internals.

"What's wrong with your vocals?"

Blue optics blinked up in surprise, completely forgetting that his leader had followed him. Because of the attack, Prowl required that both patrollers be in their mech forms for a less chance of being disabled like Bumblebee and Blurr were.

"It sshiftss out of place when I'm ssstressed," Bumblebee answered, his voice punctuated by bouts of static. His vocals were getting better in his mech, but he still sometimes preferred to communicate over a private channel or his radio. Sam was amused when he grabbed clips of television shows and songs and used them to talk.

"Come here," Optimus murmured, motioning with his hand.

Bumblebee scrambled out of the water, letting it drip off of him as he stood in front of his leader. His optics flickered as a large, gentle hand reached forward and carefully touched the wires and cords around his throat. The yellow mech relaxed completely under Optimus's optics, knowing that nothing could get close to them without them knowing in advance.

That same hand slowly moved down the yellow armor, light touches at the seams dragging a soft sigh from the smaller 'Bot. Bumblebee caught the hand with his and brought it up to his face, letting every thought and worry float away as a digit brushed against his helm. Blue optics shut off and Bumblebee leaned into the touch. The sensations weren't completely different from the ones he felt in his human like form but there were things that he knew he couldn't feel in a form other than this one.

Like the clashing of the electric fields around them as Optimus leaned in, gently nuzzling his chin and neck and nipping at sensitive cables. Bumblebee clung on to the strong arms that easily held him up as pleasure traced down his wires.

"I'm worried," the leader's deep voice murmured in Bumblebee's audio. "I hate not knowing what's happening to you."

Bumblebee nodded, knowing that Optimus would understand that the scout heard his words. He reached up and traced his own fingers down the edges of the blue helm and forced his vocal processor to work.

"Bond?"

Optimus pulled back and looked down at Bumblebee with wide optics. "Bumblebee, a bond is a permanent thing. You should think more on this before going through with it."

"Don't care," the yellow mech said and Optimus could see that it hurt Bumblebee to talk. _"Love you."_

The last part was whispered in their native language and the last word barely got out before Bumblebee's vocalizers failed until his self repair systems got it back into working order. Optimus couldn't see any pain in the expression of his younger lover, though. Only devotion.

The leader could feel his processors at war with themselves, one side saying that no, they haven't been long enough together and that they should wait even more. The other part argued that they have known each other long enough and they should take the next step. At last, Optimus ignored the part of him that was a leader that watched out for his entire team and focused on what made him individual among others.

And that was standing before him in dripping yellow armor.

Slowly, as if he was afraid that he would startle the scout, Optimus took a few steps back and lay down on the ground, Bumblebee following him by the gentle grip on his wrist. Bumblebee moved so that he practically straddled Optimus's waist and he arched into the hands that were trailing down his sides. Optimus shivered at the soft whimpers he heard from the scout, trying to control himself for as long as possible.

Electricity ran between them, producing blue sparks that sizzled in the warm air between them and internal fans whirled to life, adding a soft hum to the sounds of metal creaking and the purring clicks that Bumblebee produced. Another noise quickly followed and Optimus felt his air intakes stutter as he took in the sight of Bumblebee's chest armor shifting to reveal the brilliant white-blue glow of his Spark.

It took only a moment for Optimus's own armor to move out of the way and he could see Bumblebee's face lit up by the Spark under him. Blue optics looked up at Optimus and fingers moved to the sides of Optimus's face, conveying love in trust in that simple touch. Optimus reached up and took that hand in his, their fingers lacing together, as Bumblebee's other hand gripped his arm and the scout slowly lowered himself so that their Sparks came in contact.

Optimus felt Bumblebee's hands tighten in a near painful grip as the Sparks came together and the leader was only moments away from stopping, not wanting to hurt Bumblebee in any way, but then their Sparks synchronized and his processors were flooded with memories and feelings. Memories from Bumblebee swarmed over him, the sight of Megatron standing over him as he bought the Autobots time to launch the AllSpark into space, the pain of his vocals being ruthlessly crushed, the elation of being accepted onto the same team as Optimus Prime, the yearning to prove himself even further to the leader and to get the attention of the Matrix holder. But over everything was the pure, undiluted sensation of love and loyalty to Optimus.

Neither of them was sure who reached overload first but it sent off a cascade of sensations through the mechs that ended with the both of them falling offline.

Optimus was the first to come back online and when he woke up, he felt content at the comfortable, warm weight of Bumblebee resting on top of him. Optimus stroke his fingers down the smooth metal of the yellow helm. After a few minutes the blue glow came back to the optics of the scout and Bumblebee moved enough to look up at his leader. Immediately love flooded the newly forged bond between them, almost catching Optimus off guard.

The older mech leaned up and pressed his face against Bumblebee's and sent his own affections over the bond. He didn't want to leave the embrace but he knew that soon Prowl would try to contact them, wondering what was taking them so long. He told this to Bumblebee and the scout stood up without protest and only the faintest tinge of sadness. After helping Optimus up, Bumblebee gave the leader's blue helm one last caress before guiding them back to the base.

**oOo**

"Arcee to Bumblebee."

Bumblebee blinked, looking up at the female grinning at him and dropping his hand from rubbing at his chest where his Spark would be located if he was in his mech. He felt bad for spacing out while with his friends at the mall, the current mission adjective being to find Blurr and Bluestreak clothing, but with the bond between him and Optimus being only a few hours old it was easy for him to be caught up in the feelings he was getting from the leader. Calm and serenity filled him.

"What were you saying?" the blond asked.

"I said that you were awfully quiet. Ever since you came back with Optimus…"

He blushed faintly and refused to fidget with his hands. He had noticed that Blurr tended to do that when he was asked why he was spending so much time at Wheeljack's lab.

"My vocalizers went offline again. I keep forgetting that what happens in my mech form doesn't necessarily affect my biodroid."

"Uh huh…"

Bumblebee glared faintly as Arcee's grin widened but both were distracted when Blurr ran by them, chattering at high speed. Apparently the speedster found away around his talking problem by means of highly caffeinated drinks. Bumblebee hoped that Wheeljack didn't keep a coffee pot in his lab as he reached out and snagged the back of Blurr's jacket to slow him down only to be nearly pulled off of his feet.

"So why am I here again?" Bumblebee asked, rubbing his arm where it felt like it got wrenched from trying to catch Blurr, who had disappeared out of the current store and probably into another one.

"For this!"

Clothing was shoved into Bumblebee's arms and he only had enough time to turn around and give Sunstreaker a full fledged glare and say, "I hate you," before he was shoved into a changing room. Figuring that he would be allowed to leave until he was wearing the new clothing, Bumblebee quickly changed and walked out of area a few minutes later, not surprised when he saw that Sunstreaker already had his original clothing.

"Why do you two insist on dressing me up like this?" he asked of Sunstreaker and Arcee. Between the two of them stood Sideswipe and Bluestreak, the young gunner now holding a new bag of clothing but still wearing the larger clothing of his lovers.

Both Sideswipe and Bluestreak looked at him in surprise and Bumblebee's blush came back at full force when he realized that the two of him never seen him dressed up like this but luckily he was given pants to wear this time around.

The new outfit consisted of baggy black pants, a tight blue tank top, and a large, loose black over shirt that hung low on his shoulders and ended about mid-thigh. Again, Bumblebee kept the black arm warmers and his sneakers but overall, the outfit made him look… feminine.

"You look good!" Bluestreak said, giving the scout a bright smile. "I mean you always look good but this looks cute not that I'm trying to ask you out or anything but—"

Bluestreak's words ended when Sideswipe covered his mouth with a hand, a look of awe still on his face. As opposed to Bluestreak's rambling, Sideswipe seemed to be shocked into silence. Still a bit annoyed, Bumblebee tore off the tags and gave them to Sunstreaker so that the outfit would be paid for and left the store so that he could find Blurr.

It took Bumblebee a few stores to find the speedster but he finally did in one of the technology stores, poking at a display of MP3 players. "Blurr," he said in a low voice, not wanting to attract more attention than he was already getting. "D'you think you can give me a ride home if you're done?"

The blond had ridden into town with Blurr to let his mech fall into recharge, still low on energy since the bond.

Light blue eyes looked at him in inquiry. "Bee?"

"Yea?"

"Youlookverycutelikethat."

Bumblebee was faintly reassured by the questioning feeling he got from Optimus across the bond, the leader wondering what made his young lover so flustered.


	25. Reason

"Did you make this?"

"No."

"So Wheeljack made it."

"Yes."

"…"

"Does that matter?"

"… No."

"Put it on then."

"…"

"What's wrong now?"

"It's not going to blow up, is it?"

"Fraggin' hell Ironhide! If you don't put that headset on right now I'm going to tell Mrs. Lennox to deny you all brownies and cookies!"

Silver gray eyes widened as Ironhide looked up from the red trimmed black headset in his hands, the metal glinting in the sunlight, to the medic who was currently glaring at him. "You have yet to tell me how."

Ratchet slowly and deliberately set down the small datapad in his hand onto the hood of his vehicle and walked over to Ironhide. Despite the annoyance that radiated from the medic, he handled the headset with care. Ironhide let Ratchet connect the headset to him and as everything shifted, the weapons specialist grabbed onto Ratchet's arm as he fought to keep his balance.

Within a minute Ironhide's vision cleared and he looked at Ratchet from only a half a foot away. "Does it always do that?"

"There will always be a moment of disorientation but not as drastic as your first time."

"Well, I was glad I was able to share my first time with you."

Ratchet blinked, frowning slightly as he stared at Ironhide in confusion and then the frown turned into a scowl. "You've been hanging around the Younglings too much," he muttered as he jerked his arm out of Ironhide's grip. Ratchet connected his own headset and picked the datapad back up, connecting it to the small ports hidden on his right arm.

Ironhide turned back to his Topkick and picked up the EMP gun, checking the battery charge before connecting it to his arm. The gun was a neat little thing that turned out well from Wheeljack's lab. It ran from a battery pack and that delegated the intensity of the shot, but the gun could only be activated when it was connected to their biodroid bodies. Ironhide didn't fear if little Annabelle found it, though he was still sure to keep it out of the girl's reach.

The silver haired man obeyed the orders the medic gave him, creating a full connection to his Cybertronian body and going through a series of small tests, ranging from movement to tactical information. The only challenge he got was when Ratchet directed him to a target range at the edge of the EMP gun's accuracy range. Ratchet's commands at that point ranged from hitting the targets while only using the mech's targeting system to taking out the targets in both form at the same time, the mech and the biodroid aiming at completely different areas.

"Why are we testing this now?"

"Hm?" Ratchet looked from recording some of the test results.

Ironhide took out another target with his mech's cannons. "Why have me test this and not Bluestreak or Skyfire?"

"Bluestreak's headset is being constructed as we speak and Skyfire doesn't require a headset to connect on this level."

Sighing, Ironhide turned to Ratchet even as his mech continued to fire. "You know what I mean," he growled.

"We're creating and testing the headsets in what we believe is the priority. Wheeljack was first because he actually made the thing and tested it without notifying anyone, and I was second because of the different injuries you fraggers come in with after training or battle. Bumblebee got his because we wanted to assess the difference it would have on a different body type, and now you because we would like to see how it would react with long range weapons. Since your results are positive, Bluestreak will be tested next to see how fine tuned his shooting can be."

"What about the others? Prowl or Blurr?"

"Blurr's speed can't be modified with this device and Prowl doesn't need a full connection like this to access his battle programming. They will eventually have one made for them, just not at this moment."

"Ah." Ironhide turned slightly and raised his right arm, firing the EMP gun without looking and seeing the last target go down through the optics of his mech just like he planned.

The medic nodded as he input the data from the last test and disconnected the datapad from his arm before walking over to Ironhide. The silver haired man had enough time to make his mech form collapse down to the Topkick mode before Ratchet took hold of the headset and gently disconnected it.

When Ironhide's vision finally cleared, Ratchet was holding him up and he could feel the medic withdraw from his mind, apparently running diagnostics on him.

"What was that?" Ironhide's voice was rougher than normal and he winced.

"That was you synchronizing with your mech to near complete levels and suddenly taken from the connection. Bumblebee has reached a synchronization rate of seventy-nine percent while Wheeljack and I have roughly ninety percent. You're rate was about ninety-seven, highest yet." Ratchet moved behind Ironhide and the weapon specialist felt slender fingers move his short hair before brushing against the exposed circuitry on his neck, creating a tingling sensation that raced across Ironhide's skin. "All that's left is to create a fail switch and modify it and it should be ready for battle conditions."

Ironhide stood by his Topkick for a few minutes, watching the slim medic walk back to the rescue Hummer, a small frown on his face as he pulled out a screw driver from his pocket and immediately began to tinker on the red and black headset. He wasn't even aware that he was spacing out until Ratchet spoke to him.

"I thought you said that you were going to visit with the Lennoxs today."

"Oh! Yea, better get goin'."

He quickly climbed into the truck, now use to the fact that he still require assistance from the handle bars attached to the inside to get in. He smiled when he heard Ratchet's "Give the Lennoxs my greeting" before he shut the door and the Topkick rumbled to life, the silver haired figure driving it as if it was a normal truck.

It didn't take long to drive out to the farm and the weapon specialist was welcomed by the small form of Annabelle wobbly make her way to him with unsteady steps, paying more attention on reaching the black truck that one of her favorite people drove and giggled as Ironhide swept her up in his arms.

From the porch, Will smiled and looked back slightly as Sara walked out of the house. "We were wondering if you would show up for dinner," the woman said.

"Sorry ma'am. Ratchet held me up for a while to test something. He sends his greetings."

Sara smiled, amused by the southern drawl Ironhide spoke in. "Well, get yourself cleaned up. It's almost ready."

"Yes ma'am."

**oOo**

It was late by the time that Ironhide got back to the base, and almost all but the main hanger lights were out. Ironhide parked the Topkick by the currently yellow green rescue Hummer before climbing out only to stop and stare and the brightly colored vehicle. Ratchet's mech form tended to return to that color when the medic did a complete transfer to the mech, leaving the biodroid body behind, so it was possible that he had just got back to base recently himself.

Ironhide walked down the hall, ignoring his own room in favor for the medbay that had the door cracked open slightly and peered in. There was no movement and only after Ironhide walked in did he spot Ratchet, his biodroid form slumped over a small work desk and his hair splayed out messy over the metal, the black and red headset looking complete and whole just out of reach of the medic's fingers.

Shaking his head in amusement, Ironhide walked over and picked up the man easily, carefully cradling the body against his chest before walking towards the back where the human size quarters were situated. It didn't take much to move the bed's covers out of the way and set the medic down so that Ironhide could remove the shoes Ratchet wore.

Ironhide stood up and looked down at Ratchet, smiling softly as he brushed his fingers against the smooth, pale cheek. Maybe he should take Ratchet to the practice area and that might get rid of the paleness that he seemed to acquire from working inside so much.

Ratchet turned his head away from Ironhide's hand but one hand reached up and gently laced fingers with his. Ironhide wasn't surprised when Ratchet's eyes opened slightly, a glowing blue overlaying the brilliant gold, but he wasn't sure how to respond until Ratchet tugged his hand, pulling the weapon specialist down onto the bed.

Ironhide landed with a soft thump and he asked softly, "You want me to stay here?"

The medic gave him a small smile as he nodded and curled up closer to Ironhide. Shrugging, Ironhide kicked off his own boots and quickly got under the blankets, pulling them close to him and Ratchet as the medic practically cuddled up next to him and falling straight back to sleep.

It was times like this that reminded Ironhide that he had more to fight for than just his honor and the Autobot code.


	26. Skill

It took a bit longer than usual for Bluestreak to pull himself out of recharge, but he really didn't want to. It was just too calming the way it was, with his back pressed against a strong chest and the soft sound of someone breathing coming close to lulling him back into unconsciousness while the heavy, comfortable weight of someone's head resting on his chest encouraged him to stay where he was.

But there was an annoying, persisting noise kept him from falling back to sleep like he wanted. One of the bodies curled up closer to him to him, a head pressed closer to Bluestreak's neck and mumbling something, and Bluestreak opened one bright blue eye to see Sideswipe turn, the weight on Bluestreak's chest disappearing as the redheaded twin turn off the alarm clock. The gunner sat up and stretched, dislodging Sunstreaker's arm from his waist as he crawled down the length of the bed.

Sideswipe made a noise of disappointment when he noticed that the bed was missing one occupant. "Come back to bed," he suggested, giving Bluestreak his best pout even though the younger warrior wasn't looking.

"I've got things to do. I think Ratchet wants me to come over and test on some things and make sure that everything is in working order and I have no problems. I think he also wants to test my gunner abilities and how well it works in this form and Sideswipe!?" Bluestreak's words ended with a squeak as arms wrapped around his waist, hindering his progress on getting dressed. "I really need to get going. I still need to eat and get over there."

"But it's only seven thirty in the morning," Sideswipe replied, the pout clearly heard in his words this time.

Bluestreak refused to give in, though. He turned around enough to press a kiss to Sideswipe's nose before pulling himself from the strong arms and pulling on the too large shirt that he found in the closet. Judging by the color and type of fabric, it was one of Sideswipe's shirts.

The red warrior let him go without any further protest and Bluestreak wandered down the stairs to the main area of the house and eventually into the kitchen, stopping to stare at the variety of breakfast food that the twins had left in the house. After choosing a cereal that didn't have too much sugar in it, he got himself a bowl to eat and wandered into the living room where Blurr was sitting cross legged on the couch, a wireless controller to a game system in his hands.

"You're up a bit late," the speedster said, his eyes never leaving the television. Judging from the speed of his words, he was almost down from the last caffeine intake he had.

"Late? Don't you mean early? It almost half past seven."

Blurr paused the game and stared at the time displayed on the TV. "Wow… I didn't think I stayed up so late again…"

Bluestreak smiled, shaking his head. The upside for Blurr drinking those energy drinks was that he spoke at his usual speed and was more confident in himself. The down side was that he tended to stay up all night and not even know it.

"Another all nighter huh?"

"I was helping Jackie. Oh! That reminds me!" Blurr sat down the controller and picked up a box that was sitting on the floor, holding it out to Bluestreak. "Jackie said t-to give this t-to you to g-give to Ratchet." He frowned at the beginnings of his stutter but otherwise didn't pay attention to it.

Bluestreak took the box and looked at it. He got no clues from the plain outside so he sat it down beside him to take with him when he left for his check up with Ratchet. They fell silent after that, Blurr going back to his game while Bluestreak watched, finishing his cereal.

Eventually, it got close to the time where Bluestreak had to leave and the gunner left Blurr playing his game, the blue haired man starting to look sleepy though he determinedly played his game. It was only a few minutes drive to get to the main base and Bluestreak got there quickly, hopping out of his vehicle and carrying the box under one arm as the vehicle followed closely behind. It was only a short walked down the hall for Bluestreak to reach the medbay and Ratchet called him, obviously distracted by a black and red headset in his hands.

"I brought this for you?" Bluestreak said, his voice pitched low in case Ratchet didn't want to be distracted but faint relief coursed through him when the CMO looked up and smiled, setting the headset down on the table he was by.

"Good! Good good…" He pocketed a small screwdriver and walked past Bluestreak and towards the rescue vehicle, taking the box from the gunner. "Follow me please. We'll need to do the tests outside."

"Umm… okay," the young warrior said, unsure of what was going on except to follow.

**oOo**

Bluestreak tried to wipe the sweat from his face, careful not to dislodge the headset currently holding back some of his hair and covering his eyes. Sweat dripped over his eyes where he couldn't reach because of the blue glass that gave him tactical information from his mech. Important information such as wind speed and direction that he wouldn't be able to measure in his biodroid form.

He was startled when he heard a low whistle behind him. Bluestreak had forgotten that he was still testing under Ratchet's watchful eyes. He lowered the rifle he held, letting the hot muzzle rest against the fabric covering his leg. "Have I been doing good? I mean, I haven't really worked with this weapon and it feels so much different from the weapon you told me to store with my mech and it gives a much bigger kick than that one."

"You're doing great Blue," Ratchet answered warmly and Bluestreak thought it was a bit odd at how friendly the medic seemed to be acting that day. "Very well considering that this is your first time even seeing the gun. You were trained for the ability, not for the weapon. The rest comes naturally. This… Hmm…"

Ratchet trailed off, looking in the distance and Bluestreak turned to see what he was looking at.

Twin trails of dust rose in the air from two speeding Dodge Vipers, one a brilliant red color while the other had the same paint job as Bumblebee's Camaro, though the yellow was a bit brighter. The medic shot Bluestreak a dark look and the gunner shrunk back slightly. He had no idea why the twins would chose now to visit and he didn't think that Sideswipe would be brave enough to invoke Ratchet's wrath without a good reason.

Though the red convertible pulled a maneuver so that he slid to a stop next to Ratchet's vehicle, Sunstreaker's entrance was much calmer. Sideswipe jumped out of the car, not even bothering with opening a door, and pulled two things out of his pocket and barely saying, "We're stealing Blue," to Ratchet. He reached for the headset Bluestreak wore, obviously intending on taking it off.

Bluestreak fended himself, trying to bat away Sideswipe's hand with his own free one as he quickly converted his mech back to the car mode. Sideswipe took away the gun he held, handing it to either Ratchet or Sunstreaker, and reached for the headset again.

He didn't hear Ratchet's response, but when the wave of dizziness and disorientation cleared, he heard Sunstreaker say, "Then I'll correct my brother's statement. Prowl has requested Bluestreak's ability and Sideswipe and I are to escort him in."

Ratchet growled under his breath but Bluestreak didn't see anything as Sideswipe stood in front of him and did something with the gunner's hair. After a moment or two, Sideswipe took a step back, putting away the tube of hair gel and a comb. Bluestreak was given enough time to wipe his face with his shirt sleeve but quickly lowered his hand as the headset was placed back on his head, the back part that wrapped around clicking into place with a soft _snick_ and the blue glasses part snapping into place with the same sound.

Sideswipe studied Bluestreak for a moment before turning around and giving the other two a grin. "We're ready!"

Sunstreaker nodded. "Get in your car and follow us. We're on a timed schedule and we'll be hitting traffic if it's the time of day I think it is."

Bluestreak nodded and got into his car, vaguely puzzled as the only information that appeared on his glasses was the speed he was going, along with identifying the two cars in front of him as Autobots as he followed along.

Soon, a soft curse came from his speakers that sounded like Sideswipe. _"We're hitting traffic, Sunny! Prowl and Jazz wants us there in ten minutes and it'll take a half hour at this rate!"_

There was silence, then, _"Blue? Do you have police lights on that mode?"_

"Not right now but I can." He concentrated for a moment and felt a queer sensation in his biodroid body as the car shifted slightly, a thin strip of police lights appearing in the front and rear windshield. "Don't you guys have them? I thought most of us did."

_"Not really. Sunny and I don't have them. Prowl said something about us not needing anything to let us get away with trouble. Follow the route I'm transmitting to you. You'll have to lead us there."_

Bluestreak nodded and switched on the police lights and siren, somewhat awed as cars around them drove to the side of the road and stopped, waiting for them to pass.

Though it probably looked a bit strange as a Nissan GT-R with police light was chased by two Dodge Vipers.

The three Autobots got to the place indicated within five minutes, their non-manufacturer engines easily making the time, and they were directed to a small group of people on the other side of the parking structure, surrounded by police cars. Only after Bluestreak got out of the car did he spot Jazz among them, his silver, red, and blue dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail. The dark skinned man gave them a grin, but it was unusually sober.

"Update?" Sunstreaker asked, walking up beside Bluestreak, Sideswipe on the gunner's other side.

"What's going on?" Bluestreak asked nervously. The amount of people and the noise around them was setting him on edge and he didn't like it one bit.

Jazz took the time to smile warmly at Bluestreak as he focused on him. "There's a hostage situation in that coffee shop across the way. The windows are mirrored so normal cameras can't see inside. Bumblebee and Sam were meeting Mikaela there when robbers came in. Bee got a distress signal out and the police got there before they were able to leave. They've taken hostages. Eleven innocents and three robbers with guns." The iridescent eyes looked to Sunstreaker. "Well, twelve. They demanded a cop and Prowl volunteered. He's in silent communication with us now."

Three sets of eyes flickered over to the Nissan GT-R with a white paint job and police emblems on the doors, sitting silently and almost lifeless next to the modified red, blue, and white Pontiac Solstice. It was the only sign that Prowl was ever there.

"What do you want of me?" Bluestreak asked in a small voice.

"You are to be the sniper. One person is near the windows and the other two are overseeing the hostages. On your signal, you will disable the first one while Prowl and Bumblebee take out the other two. You need to drive up to the second level and set up there. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker will supply tactical data for you." Jazz walked over to a police car and pulled out a long, thin case and handed it to Bluestreak. "You know how to put it together. And I see that your hair won't be a problem."

Bluestreak touched his hair, the strands feeling stiff against his fingers and probably unmovable. It probably looked a lot like Prowl's usual style, save for the coloring. Sideswipe gave a happy grin while Sunstreaker rolled his eyes.

"Can you change your alt mode?" Jazz asked, eying Bluestreak's vehicle. "I think the bad guys might recognize the model and associate it with the police."

The gunner nodded and closed his eyes in concentration. He didn't see many sets of eyes looked to his car as panels shifted and changed, becoming more compact and the paint job darkening slightly. When Bluestreak looked to his vehicle again, a Nissan 350Z greeted his sight.

Jazz nodded. "Get going. We need to have this finished as soon as possible."

Bluestreak didn't even bother getting back in the car, carefully sitting on the hood with his foot on the bumper to hold him up as his vehicle drove up to the second level of the parking structure and coming to a stop in a cleared out area. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe took the spaces on both of his sides and Bluestreak didn't pay attention to them until there was a sudden rush of sensory data from the two mechs. He looked back to see the twins create a hardwire linked to him, very similar to when they were trying to overload the gunner but it wasn't pleasurable data that crossed over his processors. The same tactical information that Bluestreak had accessed earlier from his own vehicle.

The younger warrior opened the case and began to assemble the components with quick, fluid moves and within half a minute, a sleek sniper rifle was formed in his hands. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe moved to lean against each side of Bluestreak's vehicle as the gunner quickly climbed on top of the car, lying on his stomach as he rested the butt of the gun against his shoulder.

The physical presence of his two lovers relaxed Bluestreak greatly and he took a deep breath and let it out as he sighted down the scope attached to the gun. Under him, the car hummed to life as the targeting systems immediately set to work, adjusting so that it would be sighting from the height that Bluestreak's biodroid rested at and it overlaid his vision as readings from the twins began to scroll down the blue glass of the headset.

Everything was suddenly clearer. Bluestreak could see Prowl sitting on his knees by one armed man, his hands bound behind his back and looking as if he was in a state of meditation. Bumblebee and his friend were on the opposite side of the shop and the blonde warrior was tense, ready for any command or signal. All of the robbers were almost nondescriptive, same type of facial structure with only hair or eye color differing, and the one in the front had a bit of a five o'clock shadow and his pupils appeared to be dilated as he nervously watched the police in front of the shop. Never once did anyone look up towards Bluestreak, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker.

_"We act on your shot,"_ Jazz said softly, his words coming from the headset, creating another spark of confidence in Bluestreak's mind.

Tactical information of the wind and the conditions around him were absorbed into his processors, making any shift done to the rifle for targeting a subconscious movement. The thought to fire didn't even have to come to Bluestreak. It was as natural as breathing, from the moment he pulled the trigger to the moment the bullet struck his target, striking the man in the arm, forcing him to drop the gun he held.

The sniper rifle was lowered and Bluestreak saw everything that happened from the sighting of his vehicle. Bumblebee and Prowl acted, the blonde tearing the gun away from the man and punching him in the face while Prowl spun, lashing out with a leg and kicking the other man's legs out from under him. He got to his feet and stepped on the hand holding the gun, waiting patiently for the police to come in and take the gun from the man. By the time this occurred, Bumblebee had both guns in his hand, sighted on the other two.

Bluestreak was startled back to his current position as the gun was taken from his fingers. Sunstreaker held the gun and Sideswipe raised his arms. Bluestreak gratefully accepted the help as he slid off of his car and didn't mind as the red headed twin opened the driver side door and sat him down in the seat.

He obediently followed Sideswipe out of the parking structure and was surprised that while the out going traffic was non-existent, the traffic going into the city was still backed up, the same traffic that he and the twins passed. Bluestreak was confused as to why his internal clock said that only fifteen minutes had passed since he got into the city and started to panic when he noticed that his group was one short.

"Sunny?" he asked softly. "Sunstreaker!?" He frantically looked around for the bright yellow car that was no where in sight and felt the panic seize him even more. He was moments away from a full blown panic attack, driving at high speeds with only one person who could potentially stop if he should become dangerous, when a blip on his tactical readout caught his attention.

The yellow Dodge Viper practically tore up the road to reach them and the panic subsided a little as it pulled along side Bluestreak, slowing down to match speeds with him. Bluestreak turned back to the front, his hands on the steering wheel, useless, and focused on the road, keeping the panic at bay with all of his strength.

He didn't remember when they reached the house again, the three of them pulling into the oversized garage and parking. He didn't remember Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pulling him out of his vehicle and into the house. He didn't remember Sideswipe pulling the headset off and placing it on the bedside table.

All he remembered was curling up on the bed and crying, all of his insecurities, worries, and regrets pouring free with the tears that were hidden by the arms of his lovers.

**oOo**

**Author's Note: **I based Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's vehicle modes off of the Alternators version of them. I go by the thought of "Once a mech scans the car, the mode is retrievable at any time" like in the Transformers game for the Nintendo DS. Before I get anymore comments(not yelling at anyone, just pointing out) I know that Side and Sunny are Lamborghinis. In G1. Just like Bumblebee was a Beetle, Prowl and Bluestreak were a Datsun 280ZX, Jazz was a Porsche 935 Turbo, Ratchet was a Nissan van, and so on. The twins can change into different forms, but they won't stay in those forms permanently.


	27. Comfort

**Author's Note:** Gomen ne! I know a lot of you are thinking that this has been abandoned or put on hiatus, but I promise it's not! It just took me forever to get this chapter out. And after all of that, it's still a short. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Thank you for sticking with this!

**oOo**

"That was the dumbest, most foolish thing you did!"

It was Prowl's turn to wince as Jazz echoed his words from so long ago when the tactician first arrived on the planet. The reason was easy to figure out. Jazz didn't protest it when Prowl volunteered to go into the coffee shop, but the dark haired man could easily feel it his lover's worry through their bond.

"Being taken as hostage by humans is hardly as dangerous as being torn in two by Megatron," Prowl reasoned, only to hiss as Jazz dabbed alcohol onto a cut on his forehead, the only injury from his time in the coffee shop.

Earlier, people were checked over by other police and medic personnel, but Prowl was left to his lover, getting no sympathy from the other officers as Jazz led him away from the scene and out of town to the clearing near the desert where they spent their first night together on Earth. The robbers where in custody and those that checked out fine were sent home, including Bumblebee and his friend.

Now, the only light was coming from the fading sunset and the faint blue glow hidden behind the iridescent coloring of Jazz's eyes. Those eyes were now focused on the cut, even though they looked down at him every once in a while.

"That doesn't stop me from worrying."

"Hey." Prowl reached up, cupping the back of Jazz's head with one slender hand and gently pulled the man closer so they could look at each other in the eyes. Jazz lowered his hands and rested his forehead against Prowl's. "I'll always be with you no matter what."

It didn't surprise Prowl when Jazz just nodded before moving enough to press his lips against Prowl's in a chaste kiss. Prowl returned the gesture and gathered his bondmate up in his arms, glad for one of the few times that he was able to walk around in an organic, human body. He didn't quite feel the same closeness to Jazz while doing this as a human rather than a mech, but in the form he was able to hold him physically closer, feeling as if he had more strength to protect the fragile body.

This was probably one of the greater weaknesses that the both of them had since the merging of their Sparks. After a danger had passed, the one that was in the forefront comforted the other, reassuring the mech that it was all right, that what happened was now over, and that there could be nothing else done about except to be with each other.

They had to do this many times during the war, especially Jazz. Often enough, he would come back to the ship or the base and disappear into a room with Prowl, gathering the tactician close to him and opening his Sparkbond. Prowl always took the stress worse when he had to send his bondmate into battle, the best they had at the time of conflict, and thankfully Optimus understood why they had to take the time.

The last time they had to reassure each other was before they separated, Jazz heading towards Earth while Prowl took his team to another area. That session ended with the most intense Spark merging either mech had felt in their exisistence.

Jazz couldn't reassure Prowl after the last bit of trouble he got in. After all, his mechanical body was still under repairs at that time, not even able to support a Spark, and Prowl had just arrived on Earth and barely had time to break in his new alt mode.

The two of them stayed close for a long time, Prowl still sitting on the hood of Jazz's vehicle while Jazz was in his arms, a faint shudder racing through his body once in a while but otherwise there was no outward sign of his worry. Through the Sparkbond Prowl could feel everything and did all that was in his powers to calm the other down and share his love with him.

Even though it was probably going to be near sunrise when they head back to the base again, Prowl didn't care. He had what he needed in his arms.

**oOo**

"I missed you yesterday."

Sky jumped and looked up at Starscream with eyes wide with appeared to be shock and terror and immediately the Air Commander felt regretful for startling the young male, only to ruthlessly crush that feeling. After all, why should he feel bad for some human?

The younger one wiped his cheeks with the cuffs of his sleeves, the move small and almost unnoticeable, and Sky gave him a smile. "You startled me. I didn't think you'd be out here so late."

"I live close by. Tend to come out here when it gets too noisy and crowded for my tastes." Starscream sat down beside him and frowned as the other turned his head away, hiding his face in the shadow of his hair and in the darkness of the night. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Sky denied. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Because you're doing the same thing one of my friends did when he tried to hide something." Starscream ignored the slight twinge of sadness in his Spark that came from thinking about his own friend that he shot down. "He'd deny that there was something bothering him and would bottle it up inside until it ate him whole to distraction. Now tell me."

"Sounds like your friend and I would get along," he said, giving him a weak smile, but relenting when Starscream didn't change his expression. "Some of my friends have been getting hurt lately. They can't really help it; it's part of their job. But two of them are on the police force and one actually went into a coffee shop as a hostage and it really scared the rest of us." Sky rubbed at his eyes again and his voice hitched slightly. "It's just scary to think that I'm here in hopes to no longer see war but I see others hurting each other at every corner."

"Come here," the Air Commander murmured, wrapping an arm around Sky's waist and pulling him close. He could fell the other stiffen at the movement but slowly relax when there when nothing else happened.

Starscream ignored the suspicious sniffing that came from Sky or the way his shoulders would shake occasionally. Instead, his thoughts were lost in the past, thinking about how Skyfire would always find him after some failure or another he would have in the lab and just hold him until the smaller jet would either struggle to be let go or until he fell into recharge.

That's why he didn't notice it when Sky fell asleep, curled up against him, tear stains traced down his cheeks. Starscream was at a loss as to what to do. He could just leave him on the park bench, still asleep, for his friends to find him. He always come with someone else to the park so someone should be by to pick him up. But then that annoying guilt would plague him and would never leave him alone, even after seeing him next time.

His dilemma was solved when he saw a woman walking over to them. The darkness hid most of her features, but Starscream noticed the helmet in her hand and the motorcycle jacket she wore. Behind her, a pink motorcycle shined in the street light.

"You must be Sidus," she said. Starscream gave her a questioning look and she gestured to the sleeping form. "Sky talks about you often."

"Ah." Starscream didn't know what to say, so he settled on, "He seemed very sad. It's unusual for him to be out here so late."

The woman shrugged. "He wanted somewhere to think and requested here. Asked to be picked up after two hours."

Starscream nodded and watched as she reached forward, gently shaking Sky's shoulder. After a moment, the smaller male stirred, rubbing his eyes in a way that reminded Starscream of a human Youngling. He carefully got to his feet and looked at the woman as she steadied him.

"Ready to head back?"

"Yea…" Sky looked around him as if to make sure that he didn't forget anything and when his eyes fell on Starscream, he leaned down and gave him a quick kiss. Starscream froze in slight shock, barely acknowledging Sky's sleepy, "See you later," or the way he was led to the motorcycle by the woman.

Because of this, he failed to notice the faint Autobot signal coming the motorcycle as it drove away.


	28. Boom

"J-jackie?"

"Hmm?" Wheeljack looked up and saw Blurr, the speedster rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Just wake up from a nap?"

"It's t-t-two in the m-morning, J-jackie."

"Really? I haven't noticed."

Blurr frowned at his friend's answer. He knew that Wheeljack wasn't being sarcastic, but it still irked him a bit. "H-have you b-been d-drinking my sodas?"

"I might have had one or two."

"You n-need t-to g-go t-to b-bed."

"I will in a while. I want to get this convertor into at least a testing stage." When Blurr didn't reply within a few minutes, Wheeljack looked up to where he last saw Blurr.

And wasn't surprised to see him leaning heavily against the wall, eyes closed and apparently asleep.

With a sigh the inventor climbed down off of his lab table, pushing the lens of his headset up so that he wasn't analyzing everything he saw, and went to Blurr. He touched the shorter one's shoulder, guiding him to stand and begin walking.

"Sleep?" Blurr asked, leaning heavily against Wheeljack.

"Yes Blurr, you need to sleep." He didn't give Blurr time to answer before he got him to lie down on the couch near the entrance to the lab. He grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair and draped it over Blurr, the speedster looking confused at how he got to the couch. "Do you want me to turn off the lights?"

"N-no. I w-want you t-to—"

"G'night Blurr." Wheeljack turned off the light on the way out and he wasn't surprise when he didn't hear any more protest from the tired warrior. He knew Blurr would be comfortable, having slept on the couch many times himself, but he would be sure to put Blurr to bed before he went to sleep himself.

With that in mind, he lowered the lens of his headset and climbed back onto the table, picking up a tool from his mech's hand and reached back into the device he was working on.

**oOo**

Blurr woke with a gasp and that was the first mistake he made. The air was filled with noxious red smoke and Blurr quickly tried to leave, his legs tangled in a blanket as he stumbled through a door and out into clear air. Once outside, he fell to his knees, coughing as his body tried to expel the toxins he breathed in.

After a minute the coughs tapered off and Blurr looked up, peering around the area through watery eyes, panic setting in when he didn't see what he wanted.

"J-jackie? Wheeljack!?"

Blurr closed his eyes and stretched his mind out as far as it could go, freezing when he was able to pick up a faint signal still in the lab. Without thinking ahead, Blurr pulled the goggles that hung around his neck up over his eyes and removed his jacket, using the fabric to mask his nose and mouth as he plunged back into the large building

The lab area was filled with the smoke and it was only because of the goggles was Blurr able to look around. The mech of Wheeljack was leaning against the wall, offline, and Blurr dismissed it from his mind. The mech was protected with the mask and various filters on the air intakes so it wasn't in danger in other than maybe stains on the paint.

Blurr had to search for the inventor's signal again before he found Wheeljack, the biodroid from crumbled on the floor with burns on his clothing and marking his face. The speedster covered Wheeljack's face with his jacket and picked him up with an arm under his knees and shoulders.

He held his breath for as long as he could, backtracking his steps to the door but he was forced to breathe before he was able to leave the building. With adrenaline rushing through his veins, he aimed for the main base and ran.

**oOo**

Ratchet wasn't surprised to see Wheeljack in his medbay. After all, things were quiet for too long and the last time Wheeljack was there, he wasn't even hurt. But what caught the medic off guard was that Wheeljack was being carried on Blurr's back, sweat making the dark blue hair stick to Blurr face and his breath heavily labored and punctuated by coughing.

As Blurr stumbled in, Ratchet helped him bring Wheeljack over to a human sized berth and get him onto it before barely catching Blurr himself as he collapsed. Ratchet bodily picked Blurr up and took him over to a berth nearby, setting him down and asking, "What happened?"

"W-was sleeping in lab b-building. W-woke up w-when something happened. Red smoke—"

"Frag!" Ratchet didn't let Blurr finished as he moved to the other side of the berth and prepared an oxygen mask, lifting Blurr's head long enough to secure it and remove the goggles. "Breathe normally and don't talk. I'm going to sedate you to make this more comfortable."

"J-jackie?"

Ratchet looked over at the red haired man. "Was he unconscious when you went in?" he asked, readying the sedative. Blurr nodded, looking over at Wheeljack, and didn't notice when Ratchet introduced the sedative to his system. "Then he probably didn't breathe in the smoke."

Blue eyes flickered back to him and Blurr quickly succumbed to the drugs, falling asleep before he was able to say anything else.

The medic shook his head, faintly amused and irritated. He knew why Blurr didn't arrive in his vehicle form, often claiming that it would have taken too long to get the car out of the garage and that the terrain would have hindered his speed. And Blurr probably didn't think to transfer back to his original form before being sedated. Now he was asleep and wouldn't be able to do anything until the drugs wore off.

Ratchet turned to Wheeljack, eying the visible injuries as he got another oxygen mask read. It wouldn't hurt to keep the inventor on oxygen for a while. The burns would be more trouble though, and he got out bandages and burn salve to treat the injuries.

**oOo**

Wheeljack woke with a gasp, his hands working to tear off the thing covering his face and sitting up. The last thing he remembered was soldering a wire into the project and getting the power couplings ready and now he was in… the medbay?

He didn't get any warning before he saw stars and Wheeljack looked to his left where Ratchet stood, his hand raised as if to knock more sense into him. Wheeljack yelped and covered his head as the hand descended, but blinked in surprise when the thin hand lifted his face and shined a light in his eyes.

"I understand your innate sense of blowing things up but I would prefer that you would do it alone!"

"What?"

Ratchet released his face and pointed to the other side and Wheeljack turned, dread filling him when he saw Blurr stretched out on the berth, a thin sheet covering him and a mask identical to the one Wheeljack pulled off covering his mouth and nose.

"What happened?"

"That's what I want to know! I had to send Sideswipe to your lab to activate the air system and clean out the place. Other than the red smoke, nothing was damaged. Not even your mech."

"I… I was working on an energon convertor for Optimus and I was coming close to testing it… I think I fell asleep in the middle of installing the power couplings."

"That explains the red smoke. But why was Blurr sleep in the lab?"

"He came to drag me to bed but I… convinced him that I could work longer and got him to lay down in the front area." Wheeljack ran his hands through his hair and realized that his lab coat was gone and his arms were bandaged.

Ratchet caught him staring at the white bandages and said, "Burns are one of the things our bodies can't heal quickly. The other is smoke inhalation!" The medic smacked Wheeljack upside the head with a pad of paper, somewhat mollified by the wince and glare he got in return. "Not only did Blurr breathe in that stuff, he ran the entire way here carrying you!"

"Why would he do that?!" Wheeljack wilted when Ratchet glared at him. "… Why is he still asleep?"

"Sedation. Best that he sleeps this out until he can actually breathe normally. I'm not your caregiver, but I am responsible for your health. Unless they're actively working with you, I don't anyone in that building of yours. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good." Ratchet walked over to a set of drawers in the room and tossed a shirt at Wheeljack. "Get back to the lab, clean up, and come back to pick up Blurr when he wakes up."

"But the lab is over a mile away!"

"And Blurr ran that in under five minutes carrying you and having trouble breathing! You breathe just fine and your feet work! Move it!"

Wheeljack scrambed off of the berth, pulling the plain shirt on as he moved and quickly left the medbay, unwilling to fight Ratchet.

**oOo**

"Wheeljack?"

The inventor froze at the sound of his name, his eyes flickering back and forth to find the time listed on the lens of his headset and suppressed a wince. It was nearly three in the morning and Blurr had come to get him, probably noticing the lights still on in the lab building.

"Yea?"

"Sleep."

Yep. Blurr wanted him to go to sleep. And with his stubborn cough still hanging on, Wheeljack was surprised that Blur hadn't figured out that he could guilt trip the inventor into doing almost anything for him.

With a sigh, Wheeljack climbed down off of the table and took off the headset, shivering at the faint disorientation that his actions produced. After making sure everything was shut off properly and was placed on standby, he walked over to Blurr and led him out.

It only took a few minutes to walk over to the house they lived in and up the stairs. Wheeljack didn't know if the twins and Bluestreak were on night guard or if they were asleep, but either way the house was silent. They turned at the first door in the hall on the second floor where the bedrooms were located, Arcee's old bedroom that now belonged to Blurr. Blurr toed off his shoes and walked over to his bed, falling into it and appearing to go to sleep instantly on top of the covers.

Shaking his head, Wheeljack walked over and pulled the blankets out from under Blurr and yelped as a hand caught his wrist and pulled him down onto the bed. Strong arms wound around his waist and Wheeljack stiffened as Blurr snuggled closer, pressing his head against the area between his shoulder blades.

"I have my own bed," he squeaked out, unsure of what to do.

"You'll sn-neak out," Blurr replied, yawning, which quickly turned into the coughing.

Wheeljack turned in the bed and began to rub Blurr's back soothingly, relaxing only when the coughing stopped. Blurr fell asleep after that and Wheeljack just shook his head, amused. It wouldn't hurt to sleep with Blurr for one night.


	29. Unknown

The day started off too good and that should have been the first clue to Arcee. The morning had started off quiet and even though her patrol had her working through the dark hours, she expected to at least give out one or two speeding tickets. But not even that happened.

The femme sighed, leaning against the side of the pink and black motorcycle of her true form, taking a deep drink from the cup in her hands. She had to hand it to the humans; coffee is probably one of the best things she had since arriving on the planet. It was almost as good as the purest form of high-grade energon.

She didn't make this discovery until Blurr had brought some home but she was quick to start getting her own when Blurr began to question others on where his coffee was disappearing to. It didn't help that Arcee no longer lived in the house and had no reason to stop by in the morning when no one else was awake.

Arcee had been released from work for the day and she was ready to go back to her room in Skyfire's hanger to recharge herself and maybe a little training before she had to go out on her Autobot patrol but that could easily wait until night if it had to.

So Arcee stood by her motorcycle and let her eyes lose focus as she mentally scanned the police radio waves for any trouble that might pop up while she was there, oblivious to the appreciative looks many people gave her as they went into the coffee shop. It wasn't every day that they saw a motorcycle with police lights and lettering on the side with the young female driver leaning against it, dressed in form fitting riding leathers.

She was almost done when she picked up on a tripped silent alarm from a bank not too far off, maybe three miles away at the most. Arcee quickly finished her coffee and tossed the cup into the trash can before getting back on her bike and pulling on her helmet. It took her only a moment to pull out of the parking space and she was on the road again, weaving through the sparse earlier morning traffic as her police sirens sounding and the bright colorful lights to warn others out of her way.

_"I assume that you're responding to that silent alarm,"_ a male voice asked over Arcee's comm. and the femme glanced in the side mirrors to see a sleek police car following her, lights flashing but sirens off.

She was confused for a moment as to how the officer was able to contact her but then she realized that her "public" radio frequency was catalogued with the police department she worked with and another officer could look it up by comparing the number on the motorcycle's chassis.

"Yes," she answered, taking a corner in a tight turn and wasn't surprised that the car easily stayed with her. "We should be able to sneak in around back if we turn off our sirens. The culprits shouldn't be expecting us so quickly."

There wasn't an answer back but the police lights behind her stopped flashing. Arcee turned her lights and sirens off and turned a block earlier, pulling into the back lot of the bank. The femme climbed off of her bike, reaching down and pulling out a special gun the Wheeljack had designed. It was much like the EMP guns that he made a while back but smaller. It wouldn't make any of the Cybertronians go offline, but it would hit a human with a heavy pulse and knock them out without long lasting effects and because it drew from the biodroid's power, she could easily regulate how much power it used.

Before the other officer could get out of the car she pulled her motorcycle glove on her right hand down enough to connect the wires to the circuitry under the surface of her skin and straightened as the officer stepped towards her, looking her once over as she did the same.

The officer had dark hair and dark eyes, his skin slightly tanned and his body fit under the clothing he wore. The man could only see her figure but not her face since Arcee didn't bother to take off the full head helmet, her face easily hidden by the dark protective band on the front of the helmet.

"Ready?" the man asked, his voice melodious to Arcee.

The femme nodded and walked up to the back door, peering in through the glass window before wrenching the handle to the side, easily breaking the lock with her hand. The officer said nothing, apparently thinking that the door was unlocked and just followed her into the building.

The robbers apparently weren't very experienced. While they did have guns and their faces were covered, but they didn't cover all of their exits and only watched out of the front window. There were only two of them in the building, one at the door to watch for cops and another collecting the money from the few tellers that came in to work early to open the bank. A quick look outside showed that while there was a car waiting for them, the engine idling, there was no one in it.

Good. That meant they only had to take care of the two humans inside.

"I'll take care of the one by the window," her temporary partner said.

Arcee nodded and carefully edged around the wall so that she walked behind the front counter, pulling her issued police badge out of her pocket and was glad that she did. One of the tellers turned enough that he saw her and Arcee tapped her weapon to where her lips were located in the universal gesture of quiet while showing him her badge. Dark eyes widened and the man silently turned back to the front, watching the robber collecting the money without giving Arcee away.

The femme could tell when the other officer acted, a muffled scuffled heard from across the room and a yelled, "What the!?"

Arcee stood from her position, aiming her weapon and the tellers dropped to the ground, not wishing to get in a gun fight. Her action took the robber's attention off of the other officer, but also placed it on her. The man fired his weapon on base instinct moments before Arcee fired hers.

The man dropped to the ground, unconscious, just as the bullet hit Arcee's helmet, cracking and shattering the protective head gear. The femme snarled and pulled the helmet off, glaring between the robber and the ruined helmet.

"You owe me a new helmet, slagger!" she growled at the man despite the fact the he couldn't hear her.

"You okay?" the officer asked, pulling the handcuffed man along with him.

"Yea. Need to get a new helmet before I hit home though."

"I can take you to find one," the officer said, glancing out front as police cars pulled up.

"…I'll take you up on that offer," Arcee answered, watching as Prowl got out of his vehicle and headed towards the bank. "If you'll excuse me a moment."

She didn't wait for a reply as she stepped out from behind the counter and to the front door, meeting Prowl half way.

"You're supposed to be at home," Prowl said as a greeting, frown at Arcee.

"I was about to head home when I caught the silent alarm," she replied, placing her gun into a thigh holster. "Two men, one handcuffed and the other unconscious. I assume that's their car and I'll turn in my full report when I sign in next."

Prowl grimaced. While it was protocol for officers to turn in reports once the incident was over and not hours later, the Autobots were considered special agents and not always held to the rules.

"Heading straight home?"

"I have to find a new helmet first. Don't worry, I got a ride and will go home after I get one." Arcee gave her commander a nod and turned to join the other man who was handing the robber to another officer.

"Be careful," was all Prowl had to offer after that and Arcee just gave him a wave and walked beside the man towards the back.

It didn't take long to get to the man's car and Arcee grinned at him. "So what should I call you?" she asked, not above a little flirting.

"You may call me Cade, Miss Rea."

Arcee blinked in confusion before she remember that according to her police profile, her name was Rea Chris, a name to use with the public to make her seem more human and to fit with her Cybertronian name. And Cade would have seen that attached to her radio frequency when he looked it up.

"Is there a certain place you go for your gear?" he asked, starting the car with a slight rumbling growl.

"There's a shop on the south corner of eighty-sixth and Erikson that I go to."

"Then that's where we'll go."

Arcee buckled her seat belt as the car pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive down the street.

**oOo**

Barricade was confused. Starscream had asked why he had strange feelings when he came back one day and Barricade supplied the answer of "hormones." Now he was having strange feelings and over a _human femme._

The last time he had felt any sort of emotion for anyone was before the war broke out when had just grown out of his Youngling phase.

He had spent the day with her, taking her to a small store and helped her pick out a helmet and after that actually treated her to a late breakfast before returning her to the motorcycle she left in the back parking lot of the bank. And it had started out with him going to the bank with the want of pushing around some fleshlings.

It was easy for him to hack into the police mainframe, and from there, into the government systems. With only a small amount of searching he found the records of the femme.

Rea Chris. Mother Sarah and father Richard moved to America from England before she was born. Graduated from high school with average grades. Father died while she was going through training and recently moved to this city while the mother moved back to England.

Nothing significant in her records and nothing unusual about her family.

"What are are you d-doing?" a young voice said right over his shoulder.

Barricade shut the top of the laptop and placed it back in the niche of the dashboard before turning to look at the human version of his hacker companion. Frenzy just grinned back at him from behind the mesh of metal that separated the back of the car from the front.

"Did C-cade find a a Sparkmate?"

Barricade snarled and raised his hand as if to hit Frenzy and the small form cringed back despite the larger Decepticon not actually able to hit him. He got out of the car and walked away, leaving Frenzy inside the vehicle and dodging the small, scuttling form of Frenzy's true body as it ran to get the biodroid out of the car.

He wouldn't live it down if Starscream found out that he had feelings for a human. He actually doubted that he would live if the Air Commander found out.

**oOo**

**Author's Note:** Some people were wondering what was going to happen to Arcee. And to be honest, this pairing is just as surprising to me as it is to you, probably. Only a few more chapters left, I think.


	30. Wandering

Sighing softly, Optimus signed off on the last report before setting down the pen and stretching. While being a leader wasn't what his first choice would have, probably not his second or third at that, he wouldn't give it up now. Sure, the war could flare back up at any time, but he had a ship full of highly trained troops ready to defend the innocent at any time.

Even though he some times doubted how much of Sunstreaker's fighting is for protecting others or how much was just because he wanted to hit something. But with the Frenzy like drones popping up even more often, he was glad that the warrior was one of the first few to the fight.

When Optimus glanced to the time, he was surprised to see that it was earlier than he expected. He managed to get the reports done a few hours ahead of schedule and was now free to do what he wanted.

Automatically, the leader closed his eyes and stretched out his mind and searched for the signal that belonged to his lover, placing what he felt onto a mental map of the base. Frowning slightly, Optimus stood up and left his office, wandering down the hall and pausing before the medbay.

He peered inside when the doors open, spotting Ratchet sitting at his desk over to the side, but he immediately saw the form of Bumblebee lying on a berth, eyes closed as if he was asleep, but his skin was unnaturally pale. For a moment Optimus feared the worse but before he could take a step towards the blond, Ratchet spoke up.

"His biodroid's in stasis. Bee's with Sam and Mikela, picking them up from their academy."

Optimus tried to hide the flash of panic he felt when he first walked in, giving Ratchet a longer look. "Oh? Always at this time?"

"Yes. You're generally holed up in your office and he didn't want to disturb you. He's been practicing disconnecting from bio-droid when he does this…" Gold eyes looked up at him. "When was the last you were out at this time?

"Before I started doing those reports here on Earth, it seems." Optimus stepped up to the side of the berth Bumblebee was resting on, smiling slightly as he brushed a strand of black hair away from the young face. "Is there anything I need to be updated on?"

The medic shrugged. "Prowl and Jazz are on patrol, 'Hide is out on the training range working on syncing up…"

"Wheeljack finally got his headset done?"

"Yea. This is first time 'Hide's willing to go out and test it on his own." A smirk accompanied the comment.

With one last smile, Optimus acknowledged Ratchet's statement. "I'm going to check in on the others."

"Be careful," the medic said automatically as he turned back to his reading.

The leader left the medbay, walking to where his vehicle waited in the front hanger, thinking over where everyone would be. The only people in the main base were him and Ratchet, so he would need to leave to find anyone else. Easily climbing up into the cab of the semi, the vehicle started with a thought and immediately pulled out of the base, maneuvering carefully on the smaller, private roads of their area.

It didn't take too long to reach the largest structure in the area, a hanger that was built shortly after Skyfire joined their team. The hanger doors were only partially open, letting a breeze and sunlight into the darkness. Optimus could see the white and red tip of Skyfire's nose cone.

"Anybody in?" he called out, stepping through the opening.

"Over here Optimus sir!" a young male voice answered and Optimus caught sight of Skyfire standing on a chair, waving a hand in his direction.

He went over to him, smiling at Arcee who greeted him quietly and looked at what they were doing. The both of them were at a round table, a book in hand with a drink close by. Optimus glanced around, noting that Arcee's bike form was close to a wall that appeared out of place in the hanger.

"I haven't been here since you moved in," he said to Arcee. "Are you two getting along?"

"Pretty well," she said with a slight nod. "Sky was kind enough to let me have his room."

"Oh. Then where do you sleep?"

"In my cockpit," the child like biodroid answered cheerfully, taking a drink of his juice. "We share a closet for clothing, but that's the only thing I can't really keep in myself."

"Honestly, this is much better than sharing with the twins and Jackie."

"No unexpected booms in the middle of the night?" Skyfire asked, giggling when the others looked to him. "What are you doing here sir? If you don't mind me asking."

"I got done with the paperwork early," he answered with a shrug. "Thought that I could see what the others are doing when they're not expecting me around."

"You might want to be careful when you visit the house," Arcee said wryly. "Now that Sunny and Sides has Blue and Jackie and Blurr have been acting sweet on each other, you never know what you might get an eyeful of."

Optimus blinked at that statement and couldn't stop the blush if he tried. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, heading back to the hanger doors. "Don't forget your patrols."

"We won't sir!" was the answer he got in two different voices.

With one last wave, he got back into the cab and started down another road. It led by the training grounds and he paused long enough to watch Ironhide practice, the large form of the mech blasting at targets while the smaller biodroid easily kept pace with it, the flash of a smaller weapon taking out other targets.

Despite Ironhide's initial fear of using something that Wheeljack created, he seemed to be adapting very quickly to the headset.

Not wanting to disrupt the training of the Weapon Specialist, Optimus continued on the road and pulled up in front of a house within minutes. The place would have looked normal in the wooded area, except for the fact that the garage was much larger than the house itself and that there was an equally large structure just behind it.

Optimus debate for a moment on which place to visit and he decided on the house. Walking up to the front door, he knocked on the wood and got a "Come in!"

Stepping inside, it didn't take long to find the warriors. The television in the living room to his left was on, bright colors and music filling the room as someone was playing a game. Walking around the couch, he saw game controllers in Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's hands. Between them, Bluestreak was curled up in sleep, his head resting on Sunstreaker's thigh.

"Interesting game?"

The red head looked up at him in surprise only to turn his attention back to the game in time to save his person from certain doom.

"Wasn't expecting you to come by."

The leader shrugged, not answering as he peered closely at the sleeping gunner. Sunstreaker glanced up at him for a moment before saying, "He's been having nightmares lately. Bad enough to wake us up."

Optimus nodded, saddened that something like this was happening to the young soldiers. They didn't ask for the war to be shoved upon them and he was always slightly surprised when they stood up to the challenges and proved to be an asset to the army.

"I'll be checking Wheeljack's lab now," he said quietly.

"If the door light is on, don't go in. It usually means that Jackie's working on something and its best not to disturb him."

"I'll keep that in mind." He went back out the front door and followed a path to the large structure behind the house. The light beside the door was off and he knocked, waiting a moment for an answer.

When none came, Optimus carefully opened the door, peering in and looking around for the inventor. Lights were on in the building and he couldn't see anyone. After taking two steps in, though, he found Wheeljack asleep on the couch, his back to the door. It only took a few more moments for Optimus to realize that Blurr was with him, mostly hidden by the inventor, but appearing comfortable in the arms that held him.

Somewhat curious as to how the two of them could fit on the couch like that but mostly embarrassed at finding them in such an intimate moment, Optimus quietly backed out and silently shut the door behind him.

Only to walk into the arms of his blond lover.

The kiss startled him, but not enough for him to not respond. After it broke, Bumblebee rested against Optimus easily and the both of them felt the wholeness of having their bondmate so close by.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"Mikaela and Sam were studying at the Witwicky house when I left." He grinned. "Ratchet commed me and said you looked lost with nothing to do."

"Did he?" Optimus growled, leaning down enough to pick up Bumblebee and carried him bridal style. Bumblebee yelped and clutched on to Optimus automatically as the leader walked back to the front of the house and up to the semi. The yellow form of the Camaro was no where to be seen but that could mean that it was parked inside the garage or back at the base.

Either way, it didn't matter. Optimus will make sure Bumblebee gets back to the base.

"Optimus…" The soft murmur was accompanied by a finger barely tracing down the circuitry of his neck and he shivered.

Maybe not right away…

**oOo**

**Author's Note:** I know it's been forever since I've updated and I'm truly sorry for such a long wait. I actually plan to have this finished before next June, so look forward to that!


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